Panini America will continue making college-focused trading cards for the foreseeable future after reaching a contract extension with collegiate licensing company CLC. Panini called it a “long term” arrangement.
Panini and CLC originally partnered in 2015.
The announcement means that Panini America will maintain the exclusive rights to use collegiate imagery and marks for officially licensed sports trading cards for CLC partner schools participating in the program. CLC works with over 400 colleges and universities across the country.
In the early stages of the partnership, Panini America delivered several collegiate multisport products before introducing some of the company’s most popular brands, including Contenders, Prizm, National Treasures, Immaculate and Flawless, as single-sport, standalone releases. The results of that shift in strategy have resulted in a year-round market for collegiate trading cards, resulting in what it calls “a viable demand for high-end collegiate products.”
“We’ve been impressed by the creativity, innovation and value that Panini America has delivered to our partner institutions and the collegiate space in just five short years, and we look forward to working with them as they continue pushing the category to new heights,” said Dave Kirkpatrick, CLC Vice President – Non-Apparel. “We entered this partnership on behalf of our client institutions back in 2015 with high hopes on the new direction, and we are pleased to say those expectations have been exceeded.”
“It was always one of our key objectives to acquire exclusive rights to collegiate marks – not just for what they meant to our professional products but also for the ability they gave us to improve and expand the collegiate trading card market,” said Mark Warsop, Panini America President and CEO. “We are every bit as passionate about our collegiate products as we are our about our NFL, NBA, MLBPA and NASCAR releases. We aim to continue proving that with every product we make. We’re excited about this extension and look forward to continued success with CLC.”
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