Wall Street Journal examines investment in sports cards

By DAVID BIDERMAN

Stock prices have had a good run in the past year or so, but sports fans needing to diversify their holdings may have another market to explore.

For 2005 through 2009, the 30 cards that make up the Sports Card Industrial Average, an index put together for The Wall Street Journal by sports-memorabilia company Beckett Media, had an average return on investment of 12.4%. Over that span, the return on the 30 companies that now make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average was an average 7.9%…

For full details:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703652104574652424279645800.html

BOOOOM-SHAKA-LAKA! EA Announces NBA JAM

Electronic Arts Inc. announced today that EA SPORTS™ is developing one of the most popular and culturally influential arcade basketball games ever made — NBA JAM — for the Nintendo Wii™. EA SPORTS NBA JAM™ revives the classic franchise with vintage NBA JAM gameplay, and all-new features that deliver a fresh new take on the game. Featuring the sights and sounds that fans of the franchise will instantly recognize, EA SPORTS NBA JAM mixes the old school with the new, to deliver a one-of-a-kind sports presentation on the Wii…

For full details visit:
http://nba-jam.easports.com/news.action?id=News%20BOOOOOOM-SHAKA-LAKA!%20EA%20ANNOUNCES%20NBA%20JAM&category=News

Upper Deck Stands By Tiger Woods

By Tracy Hackler

Upper Deck officials on Tuesday morning announced that the company stands in full support of the embattled Tiger Woods and will continue fulfilling an exclusive relationship with the golfing superstar that’s been in place since 2001…

For full details visit:
http://beta.beckett.com/group/186451/?tab=tabArticles&p=902260#ViewArticle

McFarlane Toys Announces ‘PLAYMAKERS’ Sports Action Figures

TMP International, Inc.

Inaugural Assortment of Highly Detailed, Articulated, 4-inch Figures Coming Spring of 2010

McFarlane Toys is pleased to announce our newest addition to our ongoing sports action figure product, Playmakers. Playmakers are a completely new type of McFarlane Toys’ product based on our existing sports licenses.

Playmakers action figures include the high level of detail that McFarlane Toys is known for in a newly developed 4-inch scale figure. The addition of tremendous articulation, more than 20 moving parts, will allow for complete playability and will enable consumers to recreate countless sports action poses…

For full details:

http://www.spawn.com/news/news6.aspx?id=13639

Topps: Out of Football?

By Tracy Hackler

Topps is out of football! Topps is out of football? Topps is out of football.

Wow! I didn’t see that coming. Topps without a football license? That just seems… odd. After all, the New York-based trading card giant has produced at least one football product a year since 1955. For those counting at home, that’s 55 consecutive seasons…

For full details visit:

http://beta.beckett.com/group/185224/?tab=tabArticles&p=866511#ViewArticle

McFarlane Toys’ latest project takes things to another level

By Beckett Media

McFarlane Toys announced Friday evening that it is adding a new program that allows for a higher-end and specific chase aspect to its upcoming SportsPicks figure lines.

Its new “Collector Level” program has been created to give collectors something extra with the variant figures that they have come to expect with the popular toys. What’s that something extra? Anything from an alternative paint job to autographs or game-used memorabilia swatches included with the figure. As with past products, some type of variant or Collector Level figure will be found in every case…

For full details visit:
http://blogbeckett.wordpress.com/2009/09/26/mcfarlane-toys-latest-project-takes-things-to-another-level/

Disney to Pay $4 Billion for Comic Giant Marvel

By BROOKS BARNES and MICHAEL CIEPLY

LOS ANGELES — In a deal that redraws Hollywood’s architecture, the Walt Disney Company said Monday that it would acquire Spider-Man and his Marvel Entertainment cohorts for $4 billion.

Disney will pay a combination of about 60 percent cash and 40 percent stock to acquire Marvel, the comic book giant whose stable of 5,000 characters includes some of the world’s best-known superheroes: Iron Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Captain America and Thor…

For full details visit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/media/01disney.html?em

The Collegiate Licensing Company Names Top Selling Universities

ATLANTA, Ga., (August 14, 2009) – The Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), a division of IMG Worldwide, is pleased to announce its annual list of top-selling institutions and manufacturers. These rankings represent royalties reported July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009 on all collegiate merchandise sold.

Notes of interest:

• This marks the fourth consecutive year The University of Texas at Austin has ranked No. 1 in CLC’s fiscal year-end rankings.
• University of Georgia was the biggest mover amongst top-10 institutions. The University gained four positions and finished the year at No. 3.
• Nike USA Inc. has occupied the top spot amongst collegiate apparel licensees since 1999.
• EA Sports has maintained its No. 1 status in non-apparel licensees since Q3 of 2003.
• Top local licensee J & W Interests Inc., a State College, Pennsylvania-based collegiate apparel and non-apparel manufacturer and retailer, produces and sells officially licensed product for The Pennsylvania State University.
• Top royalty producing non-apparel categories for CLC’s fiscal year-end include video games, domestic, housewares, and home furnishings, respectively.
• Top apparel categories for 2008-09 include T-shirts, fleece, women’s, and headwear.

Top-75 Universities
(1.) The University of Texas at Austin
(2.) University of Florida
(3.) University of Georgia
(4.) Louisiana State University
(5.) The University of Alabama
(6.) University of North Carolina
(7.) The University of Michigan
(8.) The Pennsylvania State University
(9.) University of Notre Dame
(10.) The University of Oklahoma
…

For full details visit:

http://www.clc.com/clcweb/publishing.nsf/Content/Rankings+Annual+2009

 

Collegiate Licensing Company, Upper Deck Announce Multi-Year Exclusive

As reported by Beckett Media, the Collegiate Licensing Company officially announced Thursday morning that it has reached an exclusive five-year agreement with Upper Deck.

The agreement, which goes into effect April 1, 2010, gives Upper Deck exclusive rights in the trading card category to the team and word marks for more than 200 collegiate institutions…

For more details go to:
http://beta.beckett.com/group/223464/?tab=tabArticles&p=762289#ViewArticle

Topps Lands MLB Exclusive for 2010

The New York Times is reporting tonight — and sports business reporter Darren Rovell is tweeting — that Topps has landed an exclusive MLB trading card agreement for 2010.

The announcement comes as quite a surprise, and on the heels of Upper Deck’s annoucement early last month that it had secured an MLBPA extension. At that point, officials from MLBPA had no additional licensing details to report.

Officials from both Topps and Upper Deck could not be reached for comment Wednesday night…

For full details go to:

http://beta.beckett.com/group/185223/?tab=tabArticles&p=751212#ViewArticle