Penn State enters exclusive trading card deal with Fanatics Collectibles and Topps
Penn State now has an exclusive deal with a company for both physical and digital trading cards.
Fanatics Collectibles and Topps, which was recently acquired by Fanatics, announced deals with several universities that include both exclusive and non-exclusive co-branded trading card products, incorporating official university trademarks and featuring current student-athletes and former athletes playing in the NFL, NBA and MLB, according to a release.
Penn State is one of those universities, alongside Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Oregon, Texas A&M and others.
The deal will take effect between 2023 and 2025.
Later this year, Topps will also begin a scaled, non-exclusive program to design, manufacture and distribute trading cards showcasing current college football and basketball student-athletes for those schools and over 100 others.
The deal was announced just a day after Penn State head coach James Franklin said the university needs to keep pace with other schools when it comes to NIL.
“There is no long haul,” Franklin said. “It needs to be now. It needs to be yesterday. The long haul in college football, college football has changed probably more in the last five years than it has in maybe the previous 20. NIL is not long haul. We’ve got to do everything we possibly can to put Penn State in the best position this season, then also protecting our own roster for the future, then also putting ourselves in a position to be able to tell a story and show the incoming guys what we’re doing and how we’re taking care of our program and our current roster.”
