Sport Card November Expo Changing Halls

[TMLFan3]

Looks like no Hall 5 for this November Expo. It will be in Hall 2, 3, & 4.

 

[frankiefives]

Noooooooooooooo

That sucks. It makes it hard for people to find regular dealers when they're so used to our location.

 

[SNobles]

That’s going to be unpopular.

 

[Triple B]

2, 3 and 4 is what they used in the shows right after the lockdown ended. 3 and 4 were BRUTAL. If the National was any indication (and with Americans slowly realizing their 35% advantage in Canada), the Expo will be using most of the International Centre in the not-too-distant future.

 

[katoy2j]

i actually think we're in the 8th inning of hockey as a hobby. Bedard helped prop up a really trending down area of box breaking. However generational talents are basically every 10 years. 05-06 with Crosby, 15-16 with McDavid and 23-24 with Bedard. So realistically there won't be a generational player till next decade and that's a long time away.

Set, team and player collectors are declining substantially. Basically a few products matter in flagship, OPC/Platinum, SPA and the Cup to the majority of people in the hobby. Everything else is meaningless.

We're at the point now where you're getting near the bottom where only flippers, breakers and repackers are keeping things from completely collapsing. Hockey is so niche that it is tough to make money with new products. Most people made their money selling cards they had from the pre pandemic. In those scenarios, the flippers move onto something else, there is only so much garbage the repackers can sell and eventually the breakers have tougher times selling spots.

 

[Triple B]

i actually think we're in the 8th inning of hockey as a hobby. Bedard helped prop up a really trending down area of box breaking. However generational talents are basically every 10 years. 05-06 with Crosby, 15-16 with McDavid and 23-24 with Bedard. So realistically there won't be a generational player till next decade and that's a long time away.

Set, team and player collectors are declining substantially. Basically a few products matter in flagship, OPC/Platinum, SPA and the Cup to the majority of people in the hobby. Everything else is meaningless.

We're at the point now where you're getting near the bottom where only flippers, breakers and repackers are keeping things from completely collapsing. Hockey is so niche that it is tough to make money with new products. Most people made their money selling cards they had from the pre pandemic. In those scenarios, the flippers move onto something else, there is only so much garbage the repackers can sell and eventually the breakers have tougher times selling spots.

I want to say "be thankful hockey isn't like the other sports" in the sense that everyone in baseball (as an example) hypes the hell out of their teams' prospects and the quickest way to lose money is to listen to the wrong hype band but in hockey, the prospects that are pushed are ALMOST as close to a sure thing as you can get, but the values are baked in so it's also a losing proposition.

Hockey is also built differently where dealers and collectors put insane values on Young Guns, which are nothing more than base cards, only to watch those values plummet year in and year out. In baseball, Topps has flagship RCs that are $5 - $10 cards for the most hyped RCs, but the parallels, chrome versions and PSA 10s bring in the most value (UD FINALLY caught on to the parallels a few years back). It's not sustainable. I watched people pay $1,000 for Bedard's Base YG RC and now they're $300-$400 and even at $300, I still find that insane.

I no longer support Upper Deck as I think they're doing a terrible job growing the hobby on the hockey side. They're trying to do what Panini and Topps are doing but shouldn't be. They need to pivot or they'll lose more collectors either to other sports (I know TONS of hockey collectors that went over to baseball or basketball) or to indifference.

You'll also notice the dynamic shift in presence at the Expo...it went from 80+% hockey a few years back to maybe 40% hockey now (with basketball, baseball, football, Pokemon, soccer, racing and non-sports) collectively closing the gap more and more).

 

[Avalanchefan21]

I no longer support Upper Deck as I think they're doing a terrible job growing the hobby on the hockey side. They need to pivot or they'll lose more collectors either to other sports (I know TONS of hockey collectors that went over to baseball or basketball) or to indifference.

You'll also notice the dynamic shift in presence at the Expo...it went from 80+% hockey a few years back to maybe 40% hockey now (with basketball, baseball, football, Pokemon, soccer, racing and non-sports) collectively closing the gap more and more).

This is 100% accurate talked to multiple dealers and even a few collectors at the expo/national and they agree

Or they pivot to leaf/presidents choice, while its unlicensed the memorabilia pieces (presidents choice) are unbeatable and leaf autos are HOF guys, its still their auto. Better than getting a #d card, parallel, or insert as the case hit

If either found a loophole or produced cards of modern NHL players theyd give it a shot despite being licensed

We're at the point now where you're getting near the bottom where only flippers, breakers and repackers are keeping things from completely collapsing. Hockey is so niche that it is tough to make money with new products.

No kidding....

With (likely) no Bedards/McDavids in this draft and probably not for a while the interest in paying high prices to group break will fade

Would be something to see breakers unable to fill spots and buy less and less of each product from distributors.... great points katoy2j, never thought of how that would work but heard statements similar to yours all over