The sports cards renaissance continues to reach new heights – with the help of Michael Jordan.

Two 1986 Michael Jordan Fleer rookie cards sold for a record price of $738,000 each on Saturday. 

Their price was due in part to their PSA 10 status, the highest grading standard.

The market for Jordan rookie cards has fluctuated for years, and cards in this condition previously had prices ranging from $18,000 to $30,000. But valuations got a boost from the hype around ESPN’s “The Last Dance,” according to the Action Network’s Darren Rovell.

• At the time of the documentary’s premiere in April, record sales for the Jordan rookie card reached $48,000. 
• After the final episode aired in May, the record price jumped to $97,200. 
• Last month, the card had a price tag of $150,000.

Of the 20,281 graded Jordan cards, 316 of them are PSA 10s. After the record pair of sales, a PSA 9 sold for $66,123 on eBay. 

Saturday’s auction, held by Goldin Auctions, also included a 1925 Lou Gehrig rookie and Patrick Mahomes and Steph Curry cards. Each one sold for over $800,000. 

The sales follow an influx of action in the trading card space, including investment in new trading platforms like Rally and Loupe.

The Switch is officially Nintendo’s best-selling console ever, surpassing the 3DS. 

The company’s fiscal Q3 2021 earnings report revealed 11.57 million Switches sold, the console’s best quarter since launching in 2017. Lifetime sales total 79.8 million.

Despite the launch of next-generation hardware from Sony and Microsoft in November, the Switch remained the top-selling video game console in the U.S. for the 24th straight month.

Nintendo also sold 76 million games in its latest quarter. 

• “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” has sold about 31.1 million copies since its March 2020 release. It was the No. 3-selling game in 2020. 
• The best-selling Switch game, “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe,” has sold 33.4 million units. 
• Nintendo saw 29 Switch titles sell over 1 million copies in Q3. 

As with the broader gaming industry, Nintendo has seen gains during the pandemic. From April through December 2020, net sales increased 37.3% year over year. Digital sales increased 104.9% compared to 2019. 

Consumer spending in the U.S. games industry reached $57 billion across all categories in 2020, a 27% increase over the prior year, according to NPD Group. Hardware sales, specifically, increased 35%.

ASOS, the popular online retailer, is growing its activewear collection with the addition of a fitness brand.

As part of its $405 million acquisition of London’s bankrupt Arcadia Group Limited and its subsidiaries, ASOS could begin selling clothing from HIIT as soon as spring. HIIT sells “streetwear-inspired” activewear for women.

It is estimated that HIIT generated a loss of about $550,000 from Aug. 2019 through Aug. 2020. ASOS will not acquire any of the brands’ stores — about 70 brick-and-mortar retail locations will shutter. 

The deal comes as various athleisure giants prioritize international consumers. 

• Canada-based Lululemon wants to generate $1.4 billion in annual overseas sales and have 50% of total sales come from abroad by 2023.
• Nike generates 60.1% of its revenue outside of North America.
• 69.8% of Adidas’ revenue comes from outside of Europe. 

ASOS plans to keep the identities and customer positioning of Arcadia brands like Topshop, Topman, and HIIT intact, but fully integrate them into the ASOS platform. The deal is expected to close on February 4.

Colin Cowherd is the latest sports media star to fly solo with a podcast network. 

Yesterday, the longtime radio host launched The Volume in partnership with iHeartMedia, which is selling the network’s ads, Bloomberg reported. FanDuel is The Volume’s presenting sponsor. 

The idea for the network originated early in the pandemic, when Cowherd was notified his Fox Sports radio show, “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” had sold out of advertisements while others were struggling to fill air time. So he pitched iHeartMedia on a plan to build out 2,000 more hours of programming.

Podcasting is still considered to be an under-monetized medium: ad revenue for traditional U.S. radio totaled $12 billion in 2020 while podcast ad revenue was $1.1 billion. 

Cowherd’s new venture comes shortly after another top name, Jemele Hill, announced she is starting her own podcast network with Spotify.

Both should hope to be as successful as fellow former ESPN personality Bill Simmons, who sold The Ringer and its podcast network to Spotify for $250 million about a year ago.