Derek Jeter has announced his latest business venture: the trading card industry.
The Hall of Famer is serving as a founding partner for Arena Club, an online marketplace for physical trading cards. Unlike other athletes, who have delved into the NFT space, Jeter has clearly found continued value in the traditional collectible space.
Fans can buy, sell, trade, and get valuations on physical cards that they upload to a showroom. The grading process is run by AI technology, and cards themselves will be placed in a vault run by the company.
“We are converting the physical to the digital,” the company said on its website. “Gone are the days of collector communities being constrained to four walls. Instead of hiding your cards in shoe boxes in your closet, you can share and display your cards in your personal online showroom, or on your mobile device anywhere you go.”
To kick-start the venture, Jeter partnered with entrepreneur Brian Lee, who is perhaps best known for being the co-founder of Legal Zoom.
