Your Opinion - Will ITG Ever get its license back?

[habscards]

To me it is such a double edged sword. ITG is by far my favorite card company. What they have been able to accomplish has been nothing short of spectacular. With that being said I will break it down some.

If you look at a checklist of what players that ITG makes cards of, it is a who's who list of NHL past and present stars. Their may be a few exceptions to the list but it is not that many.

One thing that ITG does great is the amount of hits (autos and jerseys) per box compared to UD and Panini. Take Upper Deck's two biggest products that are highly collected. Series One (and two) for its Young Guns and SP Authentic for the Future Watch rookies. For Series One you get two jersey cards per box on average and one patch and one auto per twelve box case. Most boxes have two hits. Then SP Authentic has three autos per box. Panini has not been around long enough for me to tell you what their main products are in the $100 range.

Now we can talk about the amount of hits that ITG has per box and it is usually in the 4-6 range for products that are in the $100 range. The only one thing that Upper Deck and Panini have on ITG is that they can make rookies. One thing about rookies is that we are all fooled. Just about every single jersey or patch piece on rookie cards are from a photoshoot. I am sorry but I would rather know the authenticity that the jersey on the card was actually from a NHL or International played game. ITG is the only company that I trust in these regards.

The reason that I brought up how many hits that there are per box really affects ITG. If they had to pay for a license then we would be getting less and less hits per box. More money would go to the NHLPA than into buying game used jersey and autos. ITG with a license will have less hits.

Now lets move onto autos. If ITG does not have the autos for a product in hand they do not make redemption cards. Well technically they do make redemption cards but the only one are Made To Orders. I am pretty sure that we all can agree that we would love to pull an ITG redemption.

My last ITG topic that will cover is this; ITG has really found a niche in the hockey card world. They have some products that are yearly regulars and then one offs. What I mean by one offs are Enforcers, Broad Street Bullies, Motown Madness, Forever Rivals, etc. Those are releases that are a one time product release. They will stock the whole product up with one team or one niche of player. With a license I do believe that it would be a little harder to do because of the lack of hits that would happen.

Two product that would take a huge nosedive would be Between the Pipes and Heroes and Prospects. BTP specializes in just goalies. There are just not enough big name rookie goalies every year to drive the product.

Then the worst part would be Heroes and Prospects would not be allowed to be made. From what I understand a company with a NHL license can not make CHL or European league cards. Just take this year alone. ITG can make cards (base, autos and game used) of Aaron Ekblad, Alex Galchenyuk, Connor McDavid, Dougie Hamilton, Darnell Nurse, Griffin Reinhardt, Hunter Shinkaruk, Jonathan Druin, Josh Ho-Sang, Jonathan Huberdeau, Mathew Dumba, Max Domi, Mikhail Grigorenko, Morgan Reilly, Malcolm Subban, Nathan MacKinnon, Nail Yakupov, Ryan Murray, Ryan Strome, Zach Fucale, Alexander Barkov, Elias Lindholm, Rasmus Ristolainen, Dylan Strome, Travis Konecny, Tyler Benson, Sam Steel and Sean Day.

So with everything said I would love for ITG to get their license that they rightfully deserve. I also feel that they are doing one heck of a great job without one. If it ain't broke then don't fix it.


P.S. Dr. Price if you do happen to read this I have two really great ideas for hockey cards. They would only work if you do get your license back. If you would like to know what the ideas are please PM me.

 

[mortuus]

Quick question. The stamped ITG cards like one I saw on ebay that says "The Summit 1/1" are not the pack pulled 1/1 correct? Just a promotion card?

Yea u pull them at the shows from special boxes sold only at thoose shows.

 

[qwas]

Wasn't ITG offered a license for this year but they turned it down? I say this because I think this says something for the future of ITG. I believe they will be offered a short term license of up to two years from the NHL and NHLPA.

 

[S4Kh4r0v]

Wasn't ITG offered a license for this year but they turned it down? I say this because I think this says something for the future of ITG. I believe they will be offered a short term license of up to two years from the NHL and NHLPA.

I would need to find the thread to find the exact informations, but if I remember correctly the NHLPA offered ITG a partial licence to produce two products only for the whole year. At the end of the day, that would have helped to put ITG out of business instead of helping them.

As much as I love older UM sets will full body shots of Joliat, Hainsworth, Vezina, etc., I'd rather see ITG with no licence and amazing products than seeing them struggle to survive with a few full body shots licenced products. I love ITG. I'm obviously biased, since I collect a lot of vintage, and apparently UD and ITG don't know how to produce cards of past players, but I don't want them to change, and if having a licence means change, then they don't need it.

 

[cardz1976]

The NHLPA is all about money, there is no concern for the collectors who should have the biggest say in the matter. The only way it seems that ITG will get a license is if they were to sell a percentage of the company to someone like Crosby who is the poster child for the NHL. There is no way in hell they would try and exclude them from table if something like that were to occur.

 

[Hama]

The NHLPA is all about money, there is no concern for the collectors who should have the biggest say in the matter. The only way it seems that ITG will get a license is if they were to sell a percentage of the company to someone like Crosby who is the poster child for the NHL. There is no way in hell they would try and exclude them from table if something like that were to occur.

Wouldn't happen if that occurred either - that direct link to a member having ownership would be a death warrant to any company looking for a license - that kind of favourtism, real or imagined, would kill that before it could get off the ground.

 

[HartMantha]

From what I recall ITG was offered a license for this but would only have been able to make 2 NHL Licensed Products, with no means to making any non NHL licensed products, which would take a way heroes & prospects, my personal favorite.

On two NHL licensed products it would be very tough for a company to survive, which I believe is the reason Dr. Price turned down the offer. Basically the NHL gave him a minimal chance, but it was more like an offer to put him out of business.

I personally would be bummed to see products like Heroes & Prospects go as I am a bigger fan of the CHL than the NHL.

The ITG team has done a great job with what it has and continues to sell a lot of unique products. Sure there are pro and anti ITG fans. But at least with the products they have currently they are selling and can be unique.

Just my opinion though

 

[3rdlinewinger]

This may sound ignorant and selfish but I hope itg never gets the licence back. There the leaders in the hobby right now even without a licence. Products like h and p and bsb and mtm and enforcers would never happen again. Itg memorabilia cards are heads and shoulders above panini and ud. I just wish they had more hard signed autos. Oh well. GO ITG GO!!!!

 

[30ranfordfan]

Wasn't ITG offered a license for this year but they turned it down? I say this because I think this says something for the future of ITG. I believe they will be offered a short term license of up to two years from the NHL and NHLPA.

I'm positive that Dr. Price said they were offered a license by the NHLPA. I believe it was for a limited amount of sets (as others have posted, I think it was for 2) but I'm not sure he said that he was ever offered a license by the NHL.... and there is a difference. NHLPA controls the group marketing for the players & their likeness. NHL controls it for the logos. Maybe the offer was for both (they'd be able to make logo'd cards again, with Rookies, any current players they want) I don't know for sure.

What Dr. Price hinted at though, when I read his comments before, was that they'd have to agree to only make the licensed products, and would have to discontinue making any unlicensed ones. The limited number of products would have killed them, so the offer was declined.

Two product that would take a huge nosedive would be Between the Pipes and Heroes and Prospects. BTP specializes in just goalies. There are just not enough big name rookie goalies every year to drive the product.

I agree pretty much with everything in that long post of yours, except this.......

I don't think a license would hurt BTP at all. IMO - it would only make it better.

Nobody buys BTP for Rookie Cards now, so I don't think that making it a licensed product would change that, at all. Would a dozen (or less?) Rookie Goalies make this set popular amoung the Rookie-Obsessed collectors out there? Of course not. But a licensed set without many rookies would still sell, if it's being marketed at the right sort of collectors (i.e. the ones who already collect BTP)

Then the worst part would be Heroes and Prospects would not be allowed to be made. From what I understand a company with a NHL license can not make CHL or European league cards. Just take this year alone. ITG can make cards (base, autos and game used) of Aaron Ekblad, Alex Galchenyuk, Connor McDavid, Dougie Hamilton, Darnell Nurse, Griffin Reinhardt, Hunter Shinkaruk, Jonathan Druin, Josh Ho-Sang, Jonathan Huberdeau, Mathew Dumba, Max Domi, Mikhail Grigorenko, Morgan Reilly, Malcolm Subban, Nathan MacKinnon, Nail Yakupov, Ryan Murray, Ryan Strome, Zach Fucale, Alexander Barkov, Elias Lindholm, Rasmus Ristolainen, Dylan Strome, Travis Konecny, Tyler Benson, Sam Steel and Sean Day.

Also, on this.... I'm not sure that's it's correct.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe there is anything in Upper Deck or Panini's license that says they can't make Junior / European / Minor League cards. They just can't make them part of an NHL set, becuase no player is allowed to appear in an NHL set until they've played in an NHL game.

Upper Deck, for example, can make 11 NHL products per year. That's what their license allows them to do. If they were to spend the money to get a PHPA license, and ran off an AHL / ECHL set.... or paid to get a license with the CHL, KHL, whatever - I don't believe that would violate their license. It would be something they'd make outside their NHL/PA license.


If my understanding is wrong, someone please correct me, but pretty sure that's how it would (in theory) work.

 

[chadsexington]

I hope the good Doc doesn't take this the wrong way, but I personally hope that ITG never gets its license back. I'm of the opinion that the quality of work and the quality of product they put out would suffer, though not necessarily through fault of their own.

It sounds silly, but there have been points outlined here that are valid ones. Chances are that with the cost of an NHLPA license, that is the work that would have to be prioritized. I doubt that a company with finite resources would be able to continue with the same level of quality of their non-NHL products as they would with the NHL ones. You likely would not have the ability to mix and match your prospects with your veterans, and you could not even bring Sport Kings-esque combinations (like Cityscapes) into the mix.

Yes you could come back and tell me that 04-05 Heroes and Prospects was licensed, or had the ability to use full jerseys, but that's one product. Things have changed since the lockout and I gather that there would be a heavy reliance on single license product, as, again, some of you have brought up in this thread.

In short, I believe ITG would be hindered from their visions and product possibilities with a license looming over top.

That being said, if ITG got an NHLPA license...congrats and good luck

 

[quincy]

Two product that would take a huge nosedive would be Between the Pipes and Heroes and Prospects. BTP specializes in just goalies. There are just not enough big name rookie goalies every year to drive the product.

Plain ol' wrong. BTP was made under license in 01-02 and 02-03. In both years it was a top selling product, and in my opinion was directly responsible for UD's Mask product.

However, if we're looking for products that would suffer if ITG had a license: GOONS. I'm pretty sure that neither the NHL nor the NHLPA would have allowed Tough Customers or Enforcers. AT ALL. They turn a blind eye to subsets, but a completely goon-themed set would never fly.

 

[Bossy22]

ITG is probably 90% of what I buy, if they got a license that might change a little but not much. H&P is by far my favorite product and it is by far the best product out there! I don't think they will get a license that puts them on a fair playing field but I would love if they did. They would continue at the high level of excellence they do now plus they could incorporate all the great things they are doing now. An unfair shake is more likely however and if that is the case I hope they continue to say no until a fair offer comes down!