What’s next for Topps? Iconic brand finds itself at a crossroads after losing baseball card licenses – The Athletic

Topps.

For much of the past 70 years, this brand name has sparked one main association: collectible cards, especially baseball cards.

In what sounds like a cruel irony, The Topps Co. Inc., based in New York City, faces the imminent loss of its baseball card business to an unexpected rival amid perhaps greater craze. for cards and collectibles from company history. And then this week he lost another license – WWE for his professional wrestling cards.

The question now is: how does Topps survive? What’s his way forward without collectible cards as a backbone?

Topps himself declined to comment, which is not surprising as he probably continues to determine what his business strategy is after losing his baseball licenses to the new card company of Jacksonville-based Fanatics Inc. , Florida, and battling the longtime Italian. his rival Panini – himself losing his basketball business to Fanatics.

There are a few obvious scenarios for Topps.

One is that it could be bought by Fanatics. Why? For the rest of Topps’ intellectual property, its extensive archives, its talent and knowledge base, and its iconic name. Fanatics’ card business is starting from scratch – it already has hundreds of millions of dollars in investment that values ​​it at over $ 10 billion – so buy Topps on the cheap after destroying its core business, while Wall Street brutal, is a turnkey way in the industry.

Fanatics, which has said it has nothing new to say about its card business plan beyond what has already been announced, may also simply hire Topps to manage its card operations.

Topps could choose to sell its various businesses.