With news outlets looking for stories in and around the NCAA Tournament, Topps’ partnership with the NCAA for its March Madness cards generated some national stories.
The packs of cards that went on sale this week via Topps include both men’s and women’s players who are competing in the tournament, something the NCAA says was paramount to agreeing to a deal to put its name on the product. Collegiate licensing can often take a long time, but individual NIL deals already in place made it a little easier, according to NCAA Director of Licensing David Clendenin, who also confirmed future projects could be coming.
“This is a shorter program, the 20 student athletes are licensed through Topps,” he told the Associated Press. “That made it a quicker process for approvals. We are having long-term conversations about basketball but also other opportunities with Topps. There might be larger program in the future where obviously we have a longer runway and we can go out and get, you know, opt-ins from schools or certain athletes.”
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More Major League Baseball players are collecting cards than ever before.
Spring training clubhouses were a popular place for ripping open a box or three. Phillies pitcher Matt Strahm, an avid collector since his childhood in North Dakota has been hosting a collecting focused TV show for a while now.
Evan Longoria, Corbin Carroll and members of the Washington Nationals are just a few others who’ve jumped in…and you can add Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano to that list.
An all-star in 2022 and ’23, the Ontario native told the Toronto Star he got the bug at a local card shop and has been diving in whenever he can.
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