Panini to Produce College Athlete Trading Cards

The floodgates are open for college athlete sponsorship and licensing agreements, and the collectibles industry is gearing up to tap into a huge new market.

Panini America and OneTeam Partners are linking up on a deal that will catalyze Panini’s ability to produce trading cards for current college athletes. 

Panini said that college athletes will receive royalty rates for cards that are competitive with professional athletes.

OneTeam is a joint project of the NFL’s and MLB’s players associations with Redbird Capital Partners.

• The multiyear deal allows Panini to leverage OneTeam’s college licensing agreements, which includes partnerships with Opendorse and INFLCR.
• Opendorse and INFLCR say they each have over 40,000 college students on their platforms.
• Panini already works with over 200 universities, some through deals with Fanatics and Learfield, to produce college alumni cards. 

Panini took back the record for the most expensive card ever sold with a $5.9 million sale of a Steph Curry card earlier this month.

The Panini Group is in talks with Slam Corp., a SPAC led by Alex Rodriguez, on a merger that would value Panini at $3 billion.