Fanatics Collectibles, the trading cards and collectibles division of Fanatics and Topps announced a comprehensive, officially licensed college student-athlete trading cards program. The program includes nearly 150 U.S. schools, marking the first time students/fans can purchase licensed physical and digital trading cards with school trademarks, including logos, mascots, etc., and player image/likenesses.
With securing the rights with the school institutions, the college market is the next sports property that Fanatics/Topps has gained exclusive, long-term trading cards rights with, following the recent deals with the MLB, MLBPA, NBA, NBPA, and NFLPA.
The majority of the Power 5 Conference schools, totaling more than 35 and including Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Penn State, Oregon, and Texas A&M, will exclusively partner with Fanatics as early as 2023 to merge the individual university trademarks with leading male and female student-athlete NIL rights.
Starting this fall, Fanatics and Topps will release the first sets of college football and basketball trading student-athlete NIL cards through non-exclusive deals with more than 100 schools, including Oklahoma, Duke, North Carolina, Iowa, and Syracuse, and separate NIL deals with more than 200 leading, current student-athletes, including Bryce Young, Caleb Williams, Derek Lively II, and Aliyah Boston. The cards will be released under Topps’ BowmanU brand.
First exclusive agreements start as early as 2023. Universities notated below with an asterisk will begin exclusive agreements in 2025:
- *The University of Alabama
- *Clemson University
- *University of Florida
- *Florida State University
- University of Georgia
- *University of Kansas
- University of Kentucky
- *Louisiana State University
- University of Miami
- University of Oregon
- *Penn State University
- *University of Tennessee
- *Texas A&M University
- University of Wisconsin
Photo courtesy ESPN
