In-store autograph sessions and giveaways will be part of the annual Player of the Day program.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the NFL Player of the Day hobby shop retail promotion, three hobby shops have been selected by trading card licensees Panini America, Topps and Upper Deck, to host a free autograph session with an NFL player in their store during October.
The three events, coordinated by NFL PLAYERS and each presented by one of the card companies, include Cowboys’ wide receiver Patrick Crayton, appearing at Gil’s Infield in Duncanville, TX on Tuesday, Oct. 6, Bears’ running back Garrett Wolfe at Big John & Little Debby’s in Chicago and Dolphins’ receiver Davone Bess signing at Bases Loaded in Miami, both on Tuesday, Oct. 20.
Since 2000, NFL PLAYERS has annually partnered with its trading card licensees to offer hobby retailers an in-store promotion that they say has proven to increase sales of licensed NFL player trading cards. During the past decade, more than 10,000 free autographs have been awarded to collectors at participating stores.
Participating hobby shops receive a free merchandise kit with all of the materials needed to run the promotion, including posters, T-shirts and a variety of prizes supplied by participating licensees. Each store also receives an autographed card to award to its individual grand prize store winner. Some of the featured players this year are; Matt Forté, Rashard Mendenhall, Jonathan Stewart, Greg Jennings, Matt Hasselbeck and Derek Anderson.
The centerpiece of the promotion is a poster featuring the trading card images of 32 NFL players – one per team. Each day, a different player is designated as the “Player of the Day.” In addition, each shop also selects one player as the “Hometown Hero” for the duration of the 31-day promotion. Every time a collector purchases a pack of NFL PLAYERS officially licensed trading cards in a participating hobby shop, he or she can win a prize if the Player of the Day or Hometown Hero is in the pack. Each week, stores will also conduct a drawing among the daily winners to award a weekly prize. At the end of the month-long promotion, each store will award the autographed card to its store winner who will then be eligible to be entered into the national sweepstakes.
All store winners entered into the national sweepstakes are eligible to win one of more than 100 prizes including the grand prize — the chance to Spend a Day with an NFL Player. The grand prize includes a 60-minute autograph appearance at the winner’s favorite hobby shop, where the winner will also enjoy a $250 shopping spree and a visit by the player to the winner’s home for a private party. Last year, Johnny Titus of Houston spent a day with Texans running back Steve Slaton, which included a game of catch with the neighborhood kids in the family’s yard.
In addition to the prizes provided by licensees, each store will also receive four NFL Player of the Day exclusive card packs featuring one special card from each licensee. The featured players include Larry Fitzgerald (Panini America), Adrian Peterson (Topps) and Peyton Manning (Upper Deck). An individually numbered version (1 to 250) of each card will also be randomly inserted into packs.
This marks the 10th consecutive year the NFL Player of the Day program offers an NFL card collector the chance to spend the day with an NFL player. Past grand prize winners have spent the day with: Steve Slaton, A.J. Feeley, Maurice Jones-Drew, Chris Simms, Rudi Johnson, Donald Driver, Ed McCaffrey, Chad Pennington and Frank Wycheck.
2009 Football Cards
