Jason Masherah, President of Upper Deck, Talks Michael Jordan and More at The National

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To organize every room in your home from your garage to your attic, visit homedepot.com how doers get more done. Hi guys. Back with another national update video. So it is Friday morning. It feels like we've been here for about six months. My voice is sad. Yes. First noise Jessica is uttered in the studio is him coughing. Oh God, it's weird. Does it not feel like it's like Sunday of the following week or. My family. We did some karaoke last night. It was not a karaoke spot. I dominated some dancing. I mean I wish we could show any of it, but Yu-Gi-Oh I don't think the world is ready for that. But entertainment was had a great time to open the booth. So we got a lot going on. Today's like the busiest day I think we'll have. Yu-Gi-Oh So it's gonna be like a Zebra mishmash, like mix up video. So we're gonna do a little intro, me and Jesse. Jesse's got a cool interview with some breaking news apparently from Nick Bell Fanatics live CEO. I've got Adam Ireland from ebay coming for a sit down here to kind of talk a little bit more about their vision, what's happening with them. And we're actually going to get our new like one of our new producers, Mike. Mike has never been to a card show and now he's at the freaking national and he's with, you know, a hobby company and doing this thing. So. Formerly barstool, right? Yu-Gi-Oh big barstool guys. Yu-Gi-Oh Should be pretty cool. Hey, you already Got my perspective and all that nonsense. I did want to kind of talk to you. Yu-Gi-Oh You've been to 4th National 2001. We went to. That was the first one. So that's five. Okay. Yu-Gi-Oh I accept thoughts on the day. And you've been set up as a vendor. Like what's your thoughts? Takeaways, whatever. Man. Yesterday was absolutely insane. The day before, it was like a half day. It felt like a whole day. Everybody I'm talking to sounds like it feels like you've been here for a week already. And it's. It's not a bad thing necessarily. It's just that it's not a good thing either. Well, and this booth is out of this world. We. We have never had a booth like this before. Like this is. We haven't had a booth period. I mean, we set up at someone else's on the very first one. We've walked most of the other ones. But this is like seriously cool. And what that means is we've had a ton of traffic. There's everybody coming over here to do deals, people hanging out. By the way the bullpen built behind us. I don't know who half these freaking people are. We have like the cool kids area, I think. I don't know. Today's going to be the cool kids getting thrown out in their face. That sounds really nice. But Yu-Gi-Oh I would say more. I've done more buying and selling that I've done in any show in the past. I. I've done multiple like thousand dollars plus card buys and all creepy stuff. Well, all your stuff. What is it? The. It was. Some of. It's Lora. What is the most popular by the way? Disney 100. Yu-Gi-Oh not even close. Yu-Gi-Oh Disney 1. And I didn't even bring a lot of stuff I didn't like Star wars stuff I didn't even bring because next year is the 50th anniversary and it's going to pop off then. So I'm buying Star Wars. I'm not selling it now. The rest of the show. Yu-Gi-Oh Yesterday was the Logan Paul Gary Vee interview, which was like. So it was a lot of fun. I was in the buzz outfit. There's a lot of people. Am I done here? What are we doing? I must charge the stage. I would say you don't try to big time. If it's not me insulting and over talking Jesse, you don't do it. No, he. He was very pleasant as always. Better. I'm just saying. I will say this. I think I probably threw Logan Paul Off. When he walked into the green room and I'm in the Buzz Lightyear outfit, it was. He was like, what's going on here? That's when Logan was like, I'm a millionaire. I'm famous. And this is what. It's why I made support decisions. My only quick note from yesterday was, it's busy everything. You know, the whole thing. Crazy, busiest thing. I did not sell a single car the last three hours of the show. Oh, really? And I filled an entire three row Zion case of just buying. Yu-Gi-Oh And dude, people were pretty cool because. Hey, are you buying? Yes, I was also. But first question, what percentage are you selling at? Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh I also became the Crotchet old man. Kids would come up in the middle of conversation, just like, put a card down. Are you buying? And I was like, not when you interrupt me. I'm not. There you go. And I did a few times. I got a little sassy as a dad. Really? Well, this kid turned around, I was like, what are you. What are you doing? The kid was kind of like. He was kind of a dummy. And his. He learned it from his dad. His dad is clearly a dummy too. But the dad was like, hey, look, what's. I was like, we're talking. What do you mean there's a thing happening? Well, Yu-Gi-Oh the kids, I would say, are very emboldened because, like, there's a lot of encouragement, go around, be entrepreneurial and do deals. And it's like, okay, but we also have to, like, know our place. How does that work? Get in line, all that stuff. Yu-Gi-Oh Just some general manners. Wouldn't kill you. That's okay. There you go. That's your quick open. I just made a robot. Did you see it? I did see that. I thought that Black Gold has a robot that they've brought here. It's not theirs. They're renting it. Best investment I have seen Thousand for the weekend. And here's the thing. Everybody wants to see it. It's Bart the robot, and everyone wants to fight this robot. Here's the thing. I pushed it down and it came right back. I want to see it near my dad. Papa Geo. After about seven course lights in that robot. All right, Jesse is literally running out the door right now. I'm gonna get somebody else in here and finish up this guy. All right, guys, Next segment of the show, you know, we're cutting all this crap up. And we were. You're wondering why I'm wearing a different outfit. We just changed. Jesse's gone. We got Jason and Doug in Here. Freaking awesome interview. Anytime Jason from Upper Deck is here. He speaks Zebra authentic. So, Yu-Gi-Oh great interview. Make sure you check this out. Hey, guys, back at the national, another awesome interview for. We got Doug Plagan's hockey, by the way, one of the most famous hockey players in the world. I can name three hockey players. I can name Doug, though. And Doug knows freaking everybody at the booth. Outside of the booth, it's wild. And back again, special guest president of Upper Deck, Jason Amashira. So Zebra excited to have you guys here. Kind of wanted to break this down, kind of get their journey. I actually found out I'm the rookie here. I thought I had Doug by a couple years. I'm not even close. These guys have both been to way more shows than me, so I want to talk about that. We do want to talk about the awesome news with Michael Jordan, how you guys landed. I mean, honestly, like, the hobby Go exclusively pretty amazing. And then I think Doug had some cool stuff. He was actually just educating me out there about the debut jerseys in the NHL. So, Yu-Gi-Oh Welcome in, guys. How you doing? I'm doing good. Appreciate it. Although I, I, I'm wondering why I always have to go to you. We came. We met halfway. This time we're closer to the, to the mission. I'm in the SCN booth. Right. We're not in the Upper Deck booth. So I think we're gonna have to do like, a live on location at Upper Deck headquarters at some point. Is this an invite? I mean, I think this is an invite. Okay. I'm just so. I've been to Tennessee. I'm, I'm in the SEM booth here at the National. So we're gonna have to do something from the Upper Deck high board. We accept. I like it. I do. Like, to that point. How many Nationals have you been to, Jason? Oh, my God. It's hard for me to count. I would say my first one was 1993. It was actually here in Chicago at McCormick Place Downtown. Okay. And still, I don't know if the frame of reference is right, but to me, that still feels like the biggest national I've ever been to. Really? Because McCormick Place is massive. Okay. It feels like we're getting close now here. You, you think crowd size was similar, though? I think it's getting close. Yu-Gi-Oh Yu-Gi-Oh Okay. Yu-Gi-Oh 1993 at McCormick Place. It took me all five days to walk the national, man. Okay. And. And the vibe in the industry is very 1993 right now. Like, the size of the show is kind of 1993. Which is exciting and scary all at the same time. Okay. Yu-Gi-Oh How many? About that. A little bit. Yu-Gi-Oh But no, I was gonna say Doug. Also, this shocked me. How many of you been through D? So this is my 13th. My first one was 1997 at the IX center in Cleveland. And I remember walking to the IX center in Cleveland, thinking, this place just feels endless, and this place is massive. I. And I was 12. I Goldin believe it. Sure, I Goldin believe it. And now we can't go there. Here we are. And the place we have outgrown the IX center in Cleveland. But you mentioned kind of a 1993 feeling to all this. And Mike and I were just talking before we hit record. But now every year at the National, I feel like we're all saying, how could it get any bigger? How can it get any bigger? And now here we are. It feels like every year it is getting bigger and just kind of lobbing it in there for you. But from your perspective, the excitement of being kind of right in the middle of all of it as it grows and how much fun is it? What are some of the challenges that come with being in this not only constantly growing, but constantly evolving sports collectibles industry? Yu-Gi-Oh I say it all the time. The thing that gets me the most excited about where we're at right now is 1993. I was 16 years old. I was actually at the national buying cards to open my shop. I was buying inventory, essentially, to open my shop back in Michigan. And what makes me the most excited is when I look around the national right now, I see those same kids starting their businesses right like you see those kids. And look, it taught me a lot. Going 93, we went into 94. And you had the work stoppages. You had the baseball work stoppage and the hockey work stoppage, which killed the industry at that point. But you learn a lot of lessons. You learn that cards don't go up forever. You learn how to turn a profit. Cause you're gonna lose on some cards. You're gonna gain on some cards. You learn as a kid. You learn the art of negotiation. You're forced to talk to people, whether you're introverted or extroverted. Like, you have to go out and talk to people. And when I see so many teenagers and young adults out there learning the business, transacting, it gets me excited. Because so many of the stories that you hear, whether it's Adam Martin or executives at the different companies, we all kind of started the same way. We started as A kid learning how to buy and sell, learning the ins and outs of the business. And for a long time you didn't see that you would come to this show and it was all old guys. Yu-Gi-Oh And now you see a really nice mix. You see a lot of young people, you see them learning, you see them negotiating deals. That's what gets me really excited about what we're at. But because I live through that cycle of 93, 94, 95, and it feels really exciting like it did 93. It makes you a little paranoid about what could be on the other side. See, that's actually. So we and Doug also mentioned this. A lot of off air conversation happening, which is against my rule. I apologize address. But we were talking before though. We feel like sometimes you are one of the more outspoken executives in the industry, period. But about that, I know everybody wants this thing to 10, I want this thing to 10x and I want everything to go up and this. I've been around long enough though, like you said, there will be valleys. So you mentioned, and Doug kind of alluded to it. Hey, there's the vibe here. You just said there's the excitement. So kind of talk me through what that paranoia looks like because I think that is a real thing right now of what could happen the next six to 18 months maybe. Yu-Gi-Oh I mean, look, I, I think right now the general economy is really strong. Right. People are spending money. I mean, look, I looked at World cup tickets. 2800. $2800 for a World cup ticket. I was out. Yu-Gi-Oh I raised soccer and I was out. But I'm with it. Yes, but people are spending money on $2,800 tickets. So people have money, people want to spend it. I tend to believe our industry is one of the best things to spend money on because it's exciting. It brings you closer to the AT that you love and the actors that you love. But stuff doesn't go up forever. The stock market's been ripping and gold and silver was ripping. Crypto for a while was ripping. Everything was going up. There was a, there was a report that Sotheby's just came out that said every category of collectibles was up for the first six months of the year. And when you see stuff like that, you go scary. It's a little bit scary. Right. And when you go through the show and you're looking right now, it's getting harder and harder to find deals or things that you feel are undervalued. So at some point, when people don't see Value or they don't see deals, they will pull back on their buying a little bit. The question is how much do they pull back? Right. Because you can't keep setting record highs forever. Like at some point it has to level off. But right now I don't see where that, I don't see where it, if it stops. Right. And it's hard to predict. Nobody can predict it. Yu-Gi-Oh I just want to touch on because again, everything's excitement and like we're sitting here like kids like me and Doug, wide eyed like, oh, we're selling, we're buying. It's great. But it is true. Like we're gonna go home next week. It's like, oh, interesting. That card sold for the new height. So at some point it has to kind of chill out. So Yu-Gi-Oh just kind of wanted to get that in your perspective. You want to talk a little MJ or. Well, Yu-Gi-Oh I'll follow you. You brought that up right away about the Jordan legacy partnership. And just getting back to what you were talking about, we see a lot of instances, whether it's the ebbs, the flows, whatever. History repeats itself in the hobby sometimes. But one thing that has not changed from 1993, Michael Jordan was the biggest name on the globe then. And he is walk around this show. He's the biggest name in the hobby. No garage of 2026. And there's a good chance that in 2046 that one-of-one have changed. Michael Jordan cards are still going to be the most coveted out there. Doesn't matter what it is. That legacy partnership, what does it mean for Upper Deck to align again, continue that, that relationship with Jordy? How big is that and how much excitement is there around that and what's it like to still see Michael Jordan's footprint on this entire industry? Yu-Gi-Oh look for me again, I grew up with Upper Deck. I can't imagine a world where Michael Jordan and Upper Deck aren't together. And we are so protective of that legacy with Michael Jordan's cards. Like you've never seen a period of time with Michael's cards where there's been a flood of autographs. The values have gone down. Right. We're constantly battling counterfeiters and infringers. We're suing guys that are making fake cards, putting them on ebay, looking for fake memorabilia. Like it's, it's a partnership that's kind of unlikely any other one. And he's the biggest athlete brand in the world. And you're right, it's not changing. So that partnership is Zebra important to us. It's Zebra important to him. And it's just a marriage that works. And look, we're very proud. There's a lot of athletes, but we have the greatest athletes of all time. If you look at our stable. And there's a reason for that. Like, again, I'm biased, but Upper Deck has always been the highest quality brand, the highest quality trading card, the highest quality memorabilia. And the best athletes of all time recognize that. And it's nice. It's nice that they actually put the time in. They want to learn about the industry. They want to understand what separates each of the brands, how we do things, how we protect their image. And that all matters to Michael. Yu-Gi-Oh I will say, too, like, the one thing you touched on, because as soon as that news got announced, my biggest fear was, oh, no, we're going to see Jordan. That's the one athlete who has never flooded. Like, I'm a big Brady guy. There's way more Brady than Jordan, but there's a limit. Like, Brady is not one of these guys you see everywhere with ink, which I'm glad I was nervous at first. Like, man, if we start seeing Jordan stuff come out in bulk here. But the fact that you're aware. So how much of that played into your thinking with this deal of, hey, we have to make sure we maintain the market well. Again, we have a track record now of 30 years of making sure we protect that market. And the collectors know that. Yu-Gi-Oh it's Zebra important to the collectors. You know, the. The hope is at some point we'll be able to put them back in Bulls trading cards again. At some point. But if you look, we've also scientifically really focused on how we use him on trading cards. So, again, we went from Bulls to North Carolina stuff. We used him in golf for a little while. We did businessman mj, and now we've got a great relationship with the Jordan brand. And a lot of the photography you're seeing on cards is iconic Jordan brand advertisements and commercial imagery. So, like, if you look, I know what's your favorite topic is PMGs. We did a PMG. I don't hate PMGs. I just don't know. You hate PMGs. I hate PMGs. Okay. The. The In Metal universe, last year, we actually did the iconic Jumpman Nike photo as a Metal Universe space card, which parallels out to PMGs. Nice. So you have red, green and gold PMG version of that iconic Nike photo, which is really cool. It's a cool way, again of protecting and doing things different. With Michael, given the limitations of what's going on in the industry. I don't go to Michigan. I go there. I get insulted. I have a PMG on my table. I bought a Marino pmg. Well, there you go. So there you go for you. Well, that's not true. You inspired me though. I like PMGs. Probably no problem moving that car here. Absolutely. Oh, I want to get rid of it. I don't want anything. Absolutely. Goodwin Champions. Yu-Gi-Oh the the signed packs of 86 Fleer, which is one of the most recognizable modern trading card sets out there. We were talking again. The off air conversation was we could have charged for that. I know. And then you guys were talking here privately. It's not. So that idea, how did that go from concept to executing it, from acquiring the packs to Michael signing them to the whole thing, how did that kind of come to be? Because it has sent shockwaves through the whole hub. So right now get up to 15% off select storage solutions put heavy duty HDX totes to good use, protecting what's important to you. The solid impact resistant design prevents cracking and the clear base and sides make items easy to find even when the totes are stacked. Find select shelving and tote storage up to 15% off at the Home Depot. To organize every room in your home from your garage to your attic, visit homedepot.com how doers get more done this message is brought to you by Apple Card. Shave ice by the beach, a trip to the state fair and a throwback flick at the local drive in. They're more than just items to check off the summer Beckett list. There are also opportunities to earn 2% daily cash back when you use your Apple Card with Apple Pay. Apply for Apple Card now and use in minutes with Apple Pay subject to credit approval. Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch terms and more at applecard.com oh, a couple years ago we bought a box and at one of the signings MJ just inscribed it rookie card box. No prompting. He just did that. Just did it. That's cool. And as we were talking about how when we were getting ready to announce the legacy partnership, we were trying to figure out how to do something new and special. And we did the signed rookie cards back in 2006, 2007 actually. One of my first projects at Upper Deck where we did 23 of the signed rookie cards insert them into Flirtat. We didn't really want to do it again like one of the issues with the industry for all the manufacturers Is it's very easy to repeat the same thing over and over again, and you kind of run it into the ground. So the question is, is what could. What's new different? What hasn't been done? No, he's never signed packs. We had the box. We've done the cards. Let's do the packs. And that was kind of how it came together. And it's interesting because there's been a lot of questions of why didn't you do the cards? Well, we've done the cards. Okay. And there's a handful of cards out there kind of on the side as well that he signed at his camps over the years. But I've never seen a signed pack. And we had some fun with it. Right. So we had him sign 23 packs. We did the inscription on number 12. The funny part is, is nobody realizes why we did number 12. You guys know why number 12 going to say rookie jersey? Is that the. The stolen jersey game? The stolen jersey game. Okay. So the one knows by the. The one game where he wore number 12. Yu-Gi-Oh So it's funny. Like, nobody's put kind of two and two together. That's why there's that Sam Mitchell hoops card that people like. Yu-Gi-Oh Jordan's picture in the 12th. That's right. Okay. Right. So there was some method to the madness in it. But, Yu-Gi-Oh I mean, that was kind of, how do we marry this all together? And then, you know, we took the box and we said, let's do something different with the box. So we're going to randomly insert the packs into Goodwin. Let's do something with the box. So we have this great relationship with ebay. Also an SCN sponsor. Right. We have this great relationship with ebay. Let's throw it up in auction and let's take 10% of it and give it to the boys and girls club, which is really important to Michael. It's really important to Upper Deck. We partner with the boys and girls club locally. Mike Holt partners with the boys and girls club on a national basis. And let's. Let's give some money back to charity as part of this whole announcement. So I hope this thing gets bid to the moon because I want to write a huge check to boys and girls club. Nice. Is that going Saturday? Is that part of that Saturday auction year? It starts today. It opens today. And I believe it closes on. I want to say the 10th. 10th. Okay. Awesome. I could be wrong on that. That day, but it. It closes. We wanted it to close after the national. We didn't want it to get lost in the National. But there's a whole series of Upper Deck product and a 10 of all the proceeds go to Boys and Girls Club. Very cool. That's awesome. For a great cause. Something that I wanted to bring up that I know is going to be near and dear. We didn't talk about this. This is fresh. Now I'm interested. I've been sitting here like I haven't heard this before. Near and dear to both of us. I know this. There's a card out there that's not the most valuable card. Pretty much anybody who wants to go get one can. But I would put it on the Mount Rushmore of all time trading calls. And it's the 89 Upper Deck Griffey. Oh, card number one. Yep. If you ask anybody from our generation, I think we would all say that is. That is the card maybe the card that got us started. Absolutely. The fact that that was card number one in the first Upper Deck release generations later. Is there still a big. Is that a big point of pride to Upper Deck still to this day? That. That was kind of a one that started it all. And here it is today. Still one of the most coveted transacted cards in the entire world. Yu-Gi-Oh You know, none of us at Upper Deck were there when those decisions were made or when the company started. But Yu-Gi-Oh no, it's a source of pride. And. And we have a great relationship with Ken. He will always be ingrained in our DNA. It's kind of like I can't see Upper Deck without Jordan. Yu-Gi-Oh And I can't imagine a world where we don't have a good relationship with Ken. He is built into the DNA of our company. And it's funny, growing up in Michigan in the Midwest, as much as I chase that Griffey and I had a hell of a time actually trying to pull it out of a pack. The ones I identify from that set were in the high numbers and it was Jerome Walton and Dwight Smith because, you know, growing up in Muskegon, I was right by Chicago and the Cubs were Zebra hot. At that time we were all trading for Jerome Waltons. Did not end well for most of us. Right. Was rookie of the year, taking him for all his Griffeys. Just trade these bum Cubs to him. We would have been Goldin man. Okay. Yu-Gi-Oh So, you know, it's. It's interesting when I think about that set. Obviously the Griffey is there, but there's so many great rookie cards in there. This Randy Johnson rookie. Right. Like I always think of Those Walton and, and Dwight Smith rookie cards. The one that seemed to haunt me in those packs was Luis Medina. Like I pulled him all the time. If I would have hit Griffey the way I would, I could have retired. And the star rookie logo. Yes. Part of, Yu-Gi-Oh it's part of the history of all of it. And keeping it on the topic of rookies please transitioning into, into hockey here that the debut jersey program just got announced in January. Yep. And I think it's something that again it was big deal when it got announced and I think the biggest thing I took from it when I saw it was this is something that's going to use the full jerseys. Right. I mean they're the three different tiers. The one of one, the auto to the jersey number, the base versions and you know, in my, in my day job working for the Panthers have a chance to hear Paul Maurice talk about hockey every single day. And there's not many people on earth who can more eloquently speak about the game than he can. But he always mentions the fact that when a guy makes his debut, you can one-of-one 10 Hart Trophies, you can one-of-one 10 Stanley Cucks, but there's only one first game. And I thought that that gives all collectors the chance to get something potentially historic. And there's not just a one off line, it's scattered across all the different versions of the product. It's got a great checklist that talking to some of your people. It was, it was put together before the season started. So great advanced scouting on Upper Deck part and everybody to. To get that put together. But that concept, what, what now has been the reception to as far as you've seen because now it's, it's come out at extended series, collectors have consumed it. You had all the buildup. I thought the cards looked amazing. What'd you take from it? Yu-Gi-Oh it, I think it delivered exactly what I was hoping. You know look, one on ones are great for the industry but the reality is most of us will never pull one and we wanted a program where it was accessible to people. It was in a reasonably cost product so everybody can buy it and everybody has a chance to get a piece. Now you might not get the tag auto one of one but I can get a piece of the debut jersey and if I'm a, I'm a big fan of Matthew Schaefer or Brady Martin, I have a chance to have a piece of that jersey because I may never see that one on one that 101 may not get pulled for five or six years. Right. That's our way to connect that athlete with the collectors who really want a piece of that. That guy's debut jersey. And I think people sensed that. They understood that everybody felt like they had a fair shot at it, that it wasn't this once in a lifetime lottery ticket thing. And it did exactly what we wanted to the. The. And it has three tiers. Right. So you have the piece of the jersey, just the jersey card. You have the auto jersey that's numbered to the jersey number. Just the way the 97, 98 Upper Deck basketball ones were. Oh, that's okay. But by the way, just real quick, the base jersey, not number at all. Not number. Okay, awesome. Not numbered, but not easy. Yep. Okay. But it's. But attainable. And you get them in blasters, things like that. They're scattered across. Okay. Yu-Gi-Oh Accessible. And they're. The values are very, very strong because you. They're obtainable, but they're not in every box. Yu-Gi-Oh right. But you've got this mid tier, too, of an auto jersey, which again, harkens back to where we started with auto jerseys back in 97. And then you have the chair, the chase, the one of one tag. And I think, again, for people who aren't as familiar with hockey or don't collect hockey, hockey has the best patches of all the sports by far. And there's all these unique things that hockey players have that you can put on a card that the other sports don't have. And when we dug into this and saw, okay, what's a debut jersey and what are the unique pieces of the jersey, what we found was every team marks the jersey very different. The equipment manager marks it different. Some of the teams create their own logo or their own tag that goes in where they hand write, you know, the date, the period, who wore the jersey. They actually hand write it on the tag, and it's in the inside of the jersey. Other people, other equipment managers write it. There's a fight strap. So again, if you don't know hockey, there's a. There's a strap inside the jersey that gets strapped in so you can't pull the jersey over the guy's head. All right, let's just acknowledge the fact it has a fight strap. Like, well, in 2026, there's not enough fighting. So I'm. I'm about this. I'm. Now you have me, but the equipment manager, if they don't make their own tag, they will write all the information on the fight strap. So it'll say really? Here's the date again. First period, second period and the player's name and they'll write it. So what's really cool about this program is depending on the team, depending on the equipment manager that one of one across teams has very different looks. Like it doesn't look the same because it's all unique to whatever that equipment manager. So when we took the picture of all the 101s together, all the patches are very different and unique. And it has the handwriting that. And it has some of the information of the game right on that tag. Zebra cool. Yu-Gi-Oh And by the way, like talk about elevation of the game. Game used is now the standard. Like I was, I was walking the Fleer this morning, came across a Barry Sanders patch auto and it's a tag not from any game. Yu-Gi-Oh And I was just like I'm out. Like the card looked frigging amazing. I'm not buying a tag if it's a regular patch. Maybe game use has become the standard to me from. And for most collectors in my life, de facto that you're now adding provenance, not just game news. Like hey Yu-Gi-Oh first game elite. That's unbelievable. But any type of problem, I just think you've like married this idea where now it's like hey, it's somewhat attainable. Not crazy common but somewhat attainable and you have the whole provenance. The first game ever. I do think that's a pretty awesome innovation you guys made there. Well, and I think so. There's two things there that I have to remind people. And again I think we get drowned out with all the guys that are shouting and yelling about basketball cards and football cards and stuff like that. If you look at the history of Upper Deck and the history of hockey. So back in the 90s Upper Deck had these cards called game dated moments that were in the packs and the basically the moment described what was going on in the photo. So it was really the first time in the hobby that the cards spoke to a specific day and time. Right. And we have a line now called game dated moments that really celebrates that history. The main thing that gets lost is the amount of game used cards that we do have provenance like the other companies went to this. This jersey has no association with any date, time, place, team, player, whatever. We never went that direction. So if you look at the last 15 years of our game use jersey cards. They're either from the rookie photo shoot or they're from a game. There is none of this nonsense of Marshalls jerseys. Yu-Gi-Oh We bought a jersey from, you know, Nordstrom Rack and now it's that never happened with Upper Deck. Nice if you dig a level deeper and especially an SP game used if you go back through the last 15, 20 years, there is so much provenance game used material in there where it's from the Winter Classic, the Heritage Classic, the Stanley Cup Finals. Like for whatever reason, those cards are getting lost. Like we've been doing this forever but people haven't paid attention to and how special is we've been cutting up the Stanley Cup Finals nets for last 12 years. It has gotten lost. Right? So again like there's other people shouting that there's all this innovation. This is stuff we've been doing for years. It's not getting the attention that it did because hockey was getting overshadowed. What's nice now is hockey is kind of coming out as a really exciting sport and I think people are starting to discover it and people are getting excited. You mentioned that a lot on nonsense on ice. But we're in a place in the sport right now where you have legacy guys like Crosby and Ovechkin who are still playing at a really high level and you've got guys like Conor McDavid and Nate McKinnon who are superstars. But we've been just blessed now handful of years in a row with generational teenagers coming into the league. How much have you felt that? Plus the Olympics certainly brought a ton of eyeballs to hockey that maybe weren't there before. The playoffs have been great year after year after year. How much do you feel that behind the scenes that hockey is it's having more than just a moment? Yu-Gi-Oh no, it's. I've been saying it a lot to me when I was growing up, hockey had a wave when Gretzky came to the US right now get up to 15% off select storage solutions put heavy duty HDX totes to good use, protecting what's important to you. The solid impact resistant design prevents cracking and the clear base and sides make items easy to find even when the totes are stacked. Find select shelving and totes storage up to 15% off at the Home Depot to organize every room in your home from your garage to your attic, visit homedepot.com how doers get more done this message is brought to you by Apple Card Shave ice by the beach, a trip to the state fair and a throwback flick at the local drive in. They're more than just items to check off the summer Beckett list. There are also opportunities to earn 2% daily cash back when you use your Apple Card with Apple Payments. Apply for Apple Card now and use in minutes with Apple Pay. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch terms and more at applecard.com Gretzky, the greatest player that ever played played in Edmonton and was largely hidden for people who are not staunch hockey fans. When he came to la, people started paying attention to hockey. We're having that kind of second moment again, like cycle repeating itself. And so much of what we do as an industry is about storytelling and storylines. You went from four nations, which was this moment in time where the US and Canada had all this friction. Those guys Tribute the gloves three times in the first minute of the game. You talk about there's not enough fights. There you go. That was amazing and it was electric. You had a couple of really exciting Stanley cup finals. You had Connor McDavid doing things that no other hockey player has ever done. You had Connor Bedard hype. You've got Macklin Celebrini hype. And then all of a sudden you go into the Olympics, which was Zebra exciting. Good storylines. You've got the Celebrini connection to the Goldin State warriors, which has been kind of fun. You have all these cool storylines. And then you get Matthew Schaefer, who's a defenseman, who. Defensemen are not historically collected, but here's this guy, his mom passes away, gets drafted number one and has this amazing record setting season. Like you have all these amazing storylines going at one time. And the reality on top of that is hockey is a sport that's really built for the ADD generation that we have now. Fast pace, 20 minute periods, like really exciting clips pretty well. Like everything's kind of coming together at the right time. Like it just, it's all working right. And then you combine that with the fact that hockey cards as a whole are the most affordable, best value in the industry. When other products are getting out of control. Like it's. We are having a moment not just with hockey, but also in the industry. As. Yu-Gi-Oh I guess I always. By the way, we don't actually disagree on that. I think breakers have become too pronable. I do. I think the LCS experience is still far and away the first. So I'm actually with you there. My only pushback is always. And you said like, hey, hockey is kind of now having its moment. And I know that is true. I know nothing about hockey. But the amount of kids under 15 who have passed Celebrini, I now know Macklin Celebrini is a hot rookie and plays for the Sharks only because of this event. Like it is unreal. How many people have asked. So here is my question then. Let's say next year's class is unbelievable and the buzz just continues and it grows. What if the demand then for like a series one box is. Is cost right now, what, 100 bucks, 150 bucks. Usually 120 to 150. Okay, so let's say that next box though comes out and the second it hits the market, it goes to 300 bucks. Because demand is crazy. How do you deal with that? Because I agree, by the way. I say, and we work with Thompson Financial, we know that. Right. This isn't a secret. But I push back. The man pricing is, is brutal. But then I'm like, Yu-Gi-Oh but as a breaker, I can sell it for a thousand bucks. Even if they came to me at 200 bucks, if the market's a thousand, I'm still selling for a thousand. Right. So if the demand for hockey just continues to grow, how. I guess my question would be, how would you keep pricing in check anyways? Well, look, there are, there are market conditions that you can't control. Sure. Right. So we had that issue with Bedard year. The. Right. Yu-Gi-Oh Beauty 2. We broke some. That's how I knew it was hot, because it was wild. It got overpriced. It's actually down quite a bit now, which I think more to a healthy level. Sure. I would say there, there are always market forces that you can't control. But if you look again, our track record, if you go back to 2020 and you look over the last six years, we might have had a couple products that got out of control because that happens. Right. But we've been able to maintain a pretty good semblance of demand versus production. Okay. And we look at that on a yearly basis, you're never going to be perfect. But we've maintained that pretty well. Now where you can't control that is the high end products, where all the cards are numbered. You're kind of locked into a production run. If you get a hot year, there's nothing you can do there. But a product like UD1 and UD2, we have a pretty good feel for where those need to be extended. Was Zebra hot this year with the debut jerseys. The price has never gotten completely out of control. Okay. So that's coming into your mind beforehand because 100. Okay. Honestly, I'll be. That's a great answer. I did want to push back to. Because you Said that to us before. I'm like, man, I get. But what if. Okay, I can respect that. I appreciate you sharing because I was curious, like, how do you control the market? Just says these next nine products in a row are unbelievable because a rookie class is great, but in your mind, a lot of it's just the preparation ahead of time. Yu-Gi-Oh So hockey. Hockey's an interesting one from a rookie perspective. So typically, you know, the top rookies coming in, like, you know, like this next year, Gavin McKenna, the Maple Leafs is going to be unbelievable. We're already seeing it with pre orders on products are nuts right now because it's Toronto. Right. But what's interesting is you typically know the top couple, and I'm sure Doug knows every year, like there's a top couple guys, but there's always somebody. So unlike basketball and football, where they get drafted, they play in the league immediately. A lot of the guys that get drafted this year will go and play minors or juniors the next year or two, or college, and then they debut two years from now. And what happens is people kind of forget about some of those guys. And then they come in, they're a little older, they've got a little more playing time, and they come in and they set the world on fire when they come. So Porter Marton's a perfect example of that. Porter Martone was drafted a year ago, but he debuted at the end of the season. So he got another year of college hockey under his belt, was more ready to play, came in and made an immediate impact with the Flyers at the very end of the season because he played at the end of the season, his rookie cards will be with a 26, 27 product. And now you know he's coming in, but then all of a sudden you'll have somebody debut the first week of the season that maybe you weren't expecting. And then they set the world on fire. Beckett Seneca is a perfect example of that. Beckett, Seneca draft, I think third overall. Doug. Yep. High draft pick, kind of overlooked in that draft class. And then he comes out and has an amazing year of the Ducks. So you get these added value as time goes on. So if I'm speaking your language, it's kind of the concanipple equivalent where people knew he was a good player, but then he came out and played amazing and his value shot up. Right. Okay. Same thing where you get a guy who's drafted and stays overseas for a bit. Right. And then like Demidov, for example, or something like that. Yep, exactly. So it's Kind of fun that way. I feel like hockey gives collectors a chance to outside those top guys that come in with all the hype, a chance to, like, do some homework and maybe do their own research and kind of get it on the ground Fleer guys in a way that the other sports don't necessarily. And the other thing is that there is nothing like young guns in any other products. I mean, they're just base rookie cards that have value that everybody chases. They have a legacy of 35 years. Now, there's no equivalent of that anyplace else. So it helps as well from an accessibility standpoint. So you're basically guaranteed. If you buy a case of product, you're guaranteed a young gun of whatever player you're looking for. And I would say the last. Last thing for me, because, Jason, I know you've been incredibly generous with your time. We talked about star rookie. We talk about young guns, future watch. Like, these are terms that have been in Upper Deck lore for a long time. How important is it to. To maintain those? Like I said, those hobby terms, that hobby lingo that Upper Deck has used and I guess keep it kind of, you know, keep it to the. To the standard that it's held for so long. We try to keep our brands fairly consistent so that you have that connection. And we've really gone back and concentrated on legacy brands that we all grew up with. Spx, sp, Authentic, Ultimate Collection, Black Diamond. Yu-Gi-Oh Black Diamond. We may retool those sets, but we want to keep the brand, because if I was a fan of black diamond growing up, I want to still clock black Diamond. It's there. We just brought back Fleer Now if you guys got a chance to open up. Awesome. Amazing. EX century, by the way. Favorite part of all time. So I'm just gonna. Fleer Fleer We built Fleer this year like it was when it first came out in 93 and 94. Thick, Zebra glossy. You would dig it. Beautiful, beautiful cars. I didn't know that. All right. But we want to connect those brands and give those brands a legacy. Now Fleer We brought it back. Now it's in the calendar. It will be in the calendar. So one of the big inserts, Zebra cool technology this year. Wave of the future. Right. If you remember the rave of the future from growing up with a big tidal wave in the back. David Ortiz. Yu-Gi-Oh One of my favorite cards, really? We brought those back again. It's. It's all those inserts and. And brands are Zebra important to us, so that's why you've seen FLIR Ultra come Back, which was, to me, my favorite product of the year. Fleer Metal Universe. And again, you talk about the sba, the SPX or Ultimate. We have some of the most valuable brands and inserts ever created, and we want to make sure that people have the ability to connect those on a yearly basis. And you're ripping Flir Ultra, and it does have, like, a 90s brings you back Flir Ultra feel to it. Where back in the day, the thing with FLIR Ultra was an insert in every pack, and you're opening it and you're getting an insert in every pack. You feel like you're getting an experience with it in addition to just a box of cars. There's entertainment to it. It's entertainment. It's cool technology, cool inserts. And it's cool because it's not about the one rookie auto per box. It's actually about all these rare inserts and stuff. And it really does take you back to 90s rare products like this. Our team, our product calendar this year. Like, you've been opening a lot of product. This is the best run of products I've seen in. In probably my entire time at Upper Deck. Like, the entertainment value of opening boxes and the difference, like, the. The products are all very, very different. You don't feel like you're opening the same product over and over again. Like, I'm really proud of the team. They've done a great job. Love it. Well, hey, we do. We appreciate the time. And two guys who have been to way more nationals than me, they know way more about hockey than I do, clearly. We always appreciate how candid you are with the time you give us. So. Yu-Gi-Oh Thanks so much for. Appreciate it. Thank you. Next one. Next one in Carlsbad. There we go. The booth. We just heard. We're going to the booth to meet my guest. No, we're excited. We'll definitely. Let's do Carl's. Ben, we'll do it. All right, Awesome.