Deal! Sports cards boom in the era of the pandemic in the United States

Inside an unassuming store in Greenwich Village, New York, about a dozen men open their black bags, remove their sports cards, and start exchanging them – a growing hobby and industry that thrived during the pandemic. .

Excitement was high after a San Francisco-based investment fund announced earlier that day that it bought a ticket for Golden State Warriors basketball star Stephen Curry for $ 5.9 million, setting a new record.

Michael Campobasso, a 38-year-old jeweler, hopes the sale will spark interest in his highly acclaimed 2009-10 rookie season Curry card for the three-time NBA champion.

“After this card this is probably one of his most coveted cards. I would have sold it for $ 80,000, ”says Campobasso, who paid it $ 25,000 last year.

The sports trading card industry has been growing for several years, but coronavirus closures have invigorated amateurs and attracted new enthusiasts as investors helped drive prices up.

“It had a huge impact,” said Jacob Salter, product manager of the Bleecker Trading Company, which hosted the Trade Night in New York, of the pandemic.

The 25-year-old added: “People were at home, they were bored, they were locked in, they got their childhood back. They started buying sports cards ”.

The first few days of closure coincided with the April 2020 release of the popular Netflix series “The Last Dance”, which revolves around Michael Jordan’s famous Chicago Bulls in the 1990s.

It brought Jordan memorabilia to high demand and helped bring basketball cards to center stage in the sports card world, which has long been dominated by baseball.

In February of this year, a rare Jordan card signed by the same six-time NBA champion sold at auction for $ 1.44 million, breaking the previous record for a $ 500,000 card.

A LeBron James rookie card sold for $ 5.2 million in April.

Basketball cards dominate exchanges at the Bleecker Trading event, with organizer Salter estimating the total value of the cards in the room overnight at $ 20 million.

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The cards have all been validated by rating companies, who have rated them on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the highest value. Evaluation factors include rarity and status.

All cards are laminated in clear plastic sheets, which merchants proudly display on shelves inside hard cases containing assembled numbered locks due to the high value of their contents.

For 28-year-old Fahi Hekimian, collecting sports cards started as a hobby that has grown into his main source of income.

“It’s a passion. I love it. But I also sell to keep going, ”he told AFP, explaining that the performance of sports stars affects the value of their cards.

– “Origins” –

He once paid $ 50,000 in a partial cash business deal to NBA rising star Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks who will represent Slovenia at this summer’s Olympics.

The night’s most valuable deal exceeds $ 90,000 and includes multiple cards, including baseball champion Shohei Ohtani and young NFL quarterback Justin Herbert. The people involved want to remain anonymous.

Campobasso does not sell his Curry card but has struck a deal worth $ 11,000.

Trading cards are now increasingly seen as smart investments, says a 44-year-old collector who calls himself Cage Lawyer and holds a half-million-dollar Jordanian card.

“People now see it as an alternative asset class, something akin to art and cryptocurrency. People are looking for something to invest their money in to protect themselves from inflation, ”he explains.

Insanity is a boon to the growing number of investment groups now trading sports cards.

Alt, which invests in unconventional assets, estimates the trading card market is currently worth $ 15 billion. He grossed $ 5.9 million on his signed Curry card.

Collectable is another company that participates in fractional ownership where investors buy shares in the cards.

PWCC is a trading card marketplace that holds auctions and operates a secure vault where owners can keep their cards.

It is expected to generate more than $ 500 million in sales this year, nearly triple what it did in 2020, according to business development director Jesse Craig.

“We are very confident that our industry will continue to grow,” he told AFP.

pdh / d