Sports Cards Aren’t a Hobby Anymore… They’re an Industry

So these big multinationals really have had a hard time competing with the eBay marketplace. I'm not gonna name the small ones, but like, hey, we're gonna do a marketplace, blah, blah, blah. It's not gonna work, because Fanatics Collect is having a hard time building a marketplace. Walmart's having a hard time building a marketplace. I don't even know how a small marketplace is gonna compete when the big guys can't take a bite out of the apple yet. And that's just all about the car. No, it's about the experience of keeping up with your collection digitally on the LuddX app. Coming to a retail experience like the LuddX card store or Collector Station, there's a ecosystem here of these things that doesn't just start and stop with a box of cards. That's what's exciting. For everyone that's into collecting and ripping card, it's fun. You gotta enjoy the journey. In the end, that's how this industry grows. And I'm gonna try not to say hobby this year, and I'm gonna say industry. I know. I'm gonna try it. Let's see what happens. It's hard. It's hard. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast on the Radcast Network. From chasing grails to calling bluffs, we're going inside the hobby. Are you ready to collect? Let's get at it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hello and welcome to Collector Nation here on the Collector Nation Network. Powered, loved, handled, groomed by LuddX. And of course, you know, I can't think of enough words. Power's just overplayed. But it's the home of LuddX content, the LuddX kingdom. We're just proud to be a part of it. That's why I got Brian Ludd right here in studio every time, every Friday, me and Brian are gonna break it down. Hey, there's so much to talk about, Brian. Bear down. Bear down, dude. What? I'll tell you what. The Cardiac Kids, like fourth quarter magic. It's unbelievable. And I kind of knew it was coming. I was watching, I was like, I think Caleb's gonna do it again. I think he's gonna do it again. And what was it, 26 points in the fourth quarter? Was that what he was? 25, I think, but yeah. Who's counting? One point. Oh my God. And you were there. I was there. And it was insane. But this team has that comeback mentality. So like the fans a year ago, two years ago, five years ago, we would have left. But no one left. And it happened again. So this week, now this week's interesting because it's on Sunday night and the real field temperature, negative seven. So I've seen teams come to Chicago that are much better than the Bears and they just can't play. It's like a shock to their system. They can't run. They can't catch. They can't tackle. I mean, the LA Rams don't even know what negative seven feels like. No, negative seven. I think I heard that Matthew Stafford in temperatures under 40 degrees is like two and 10. Yeah, he's a Georgia boy. I mean, he went to Georgia. I don't know where he might've grown up in Georgia. Yeah, and then Dome and Detroit and then LA. LA, that guy's, yeah, we'll see. What do you think about the Bills? You know, that was a tough game to watch. I love it because Josh is my guy, but you know, being a Clemson guy and my boys loving Jacksonville, we were watching and it played out to the T of what I expected. I kind of thought, I will admit that I was kind of expecting Jacksonville to maybe win the game because I thought I knew it was gonna be tight and playing at home. But then once I kind of got into the first quarter, I said, Buffalo will win and Josh will rip my kids and the Jaguars hearts out. I pretty much called the entire fourth quarter down to the last play. Called the interstate. It was annoying even myself because I knew, I just know, I watch Josh. I know Josh. I knew the zone he was in and how he was taking care of the ball and calling the right plays. And Jacksonville was a little predictable kind of, you know, and they scored and the Buffalo defense was a little shaky at times, but they always are. I mean, it was like, I've just watched enough Buffalo games, you know, those battles with Mahomes. And look, I love Trev. I love him, but he ain't Mahomes. And if he wants to be in the, you know, the thin air of elite, he threw two really bad picks. You know, like, yeah, you can say the last one, be doing the tight coverage. Like, do a dump down. Like, you got one minute. Yeah, you gotta move fast, but don't put it in jeopardy the first play and take yourself completely out of it. And, you know, I just, it was predictable. So that's like my disappointing side with, you know, Trev and Jacksonville, but look, I mean, Buffalo wins. What's the, what's the state of the hobby? Like, you know, I know you do it, you're working a lot of deals and you're doing things that CEOs do at tech companies that happen to be in the hobby. And, but what, what, what's the lay of the land right now in the hobby? For a couple of years, I saw Arena Club did a deal with the San Antonio Spurs. Yeah. And I know that they're looking at other teams, professional teams. I think they want to just, you know, have a presence in there of giving away like a mystery pack or whatever, a game. So I think, you know, that feeds into the mainstream. Like it continues to get more mainstream. And I think that, I mean- You're talking with other executives, like maybe, or to other people that are running companies within the hobby or the collectible space. I know you talked to Walmart and you talked to eBay and you're talking with, you know, other niche providers. I mean, what's sort of the, I don't know, the sentiment? I mean, I think the sentiment, there's like, because it's the industry, like we always talk about, there's like micro industries inside of industries. I mean, what I'm seeing is that these big multinationals really have had a hard time competing with the eBay marketplace. And I'm seeing them making deals that are facilitating the growth of their marketplace. And I'm talking about Walmart and Fanatics. Those are probably the big ones. And here's the thing about it, is the marketplaces that come out, I'm not going to name the small ones, but like, hey, we're going to do a marketplace and zero commission and blah, blah, blah. That's not going to work. Because Fanatics Collect is having a hard time building a marketplace. Walmart's having a hard time building a marketplace. And so they're starting to get a little more strategic and, you know, value partnerships. But I mean, I don't even know how a small marketplace is going to compete when the big guys can't take a bite out of the apple yet. It's a much, much harder than people think because it's, you got three components. You got trust, you got volume, you got velocity. And if you have those three things, you know, you're going to do okay. But it's not a place where you get rewarded for just opening the doors. What do you think? What's on your mind in the industry? You know, I'm a football card first guy, like me personally in the hobby. Obviously the store will have everything, but like the draft class was so hot last year. And even they're carrying over with, you know, the rookies in the playoffs. And this year is just so meh. When you fly with Hawaiian Airlines, the whole family enjoys free access to Starlink, the fastest wifi in the sky. Thanks to T-Mobile. Stream, scroll, message, and game while sipping a passion orange guava juice. Everyone stays entertained and your vacation gets a headstart. Enjoy every moment of your trip, even before you land. Hawaii starts here. RingCentral's AI receptionist uses voice AI to answer on the first ring. So you'll never miss a call again. In just a few minutes, you can personalize your own AI receptionist to answer questions, route calls, schedule appointments, and even send texts in multiple languages. Plus it's easy to scale. Create unlimited AI receptionists across any phone system. It's all powered by one reliable platform for effortless AI communications. See for yourself at ringcentral.com. RingCentral, voice of your business. To use that, it's like, and next year's looking very meh. And so I don't know, like that drives a lot of the hobby, at least at that particular card. So I think my radar's off a little bit of definite. I definitely, all the stuff I normally follow and the content I follow seems to be flowing. Everybody's still ripping packs and they're barking about $90, you know, megaboxes with Chrome basketball, but they still seem to be opening it and liking it. And I've opened a few of those, fun rip. So, you know, I don't know. I think people are still buying stuff, that's for sure. Hobby and collecting in this industry, like it's a pastime. You know, it's like, yeah, it's become industry for you and me. You sooner than me, but now me. But for everyone that's into collecting and, you know, ripping cards, it's fun. It's entertainment. So it needs to feel that way. It needs to live and breathe in an environment of community and hanging out and like enjoying it. And yeah, it's about, yeah, did I get a downtown? Did I get a Kaboom? Did I get this? Yeah, that's part of the excitement, but you gotta enjoy the journey. And so I wanna play, have a place where the journey of collecting is experienced and enjoyed. And in the end, that's how this industry grows. And I'm gonna try not to say hobby this year, and I'm gonna say industry. I know, yeah. I'm gonna try it and see what happens. It's hard, it's hard. Yeah, and I think the industry, why it's an important word is when these multinational companies are coming in, they're looking for companies that are industry, like are real industry brands. Like they're gonna grow this industry. They're not interested in hobby shops. No. And Fanatics isn't, Walmart's isn't, eBay's not. These big guys, and we're not even talking about private equity or VC or whatever, but like they wanna reward people doing the future of this industry. They're gonna reward those people. And I think that's why they're pulling back is they're like, that vision's not what we want. Pull that back. And they're gonna reward the people that are pushing this into the next generation. Sometimes it's all about the card. No, it's about the experience, you know, like of it. And of keeping up with your collection digitally on the LuddX app, of listing your cards on eBay that you don't want quickly through the LuddX app, through coming to a retail experience like the LuddX card store at the Texas Rangers stadium or collector station. Like it's the experience plus the cards. It's all of that. There's a ecosystem here of these things that doesn't just start and stop with a box of cards. And I think that's what's exciting. Absolutely. Speaking of all that, we've got some winners, some risers of the week. I don't think these names will be completely, as we get in, we're really narrowing it down here once you get to the playoffs. It's kind of like, you don't have 32 teams playing every week. And I don't think anyone would be totally shocked by the, the value shocked me a little bit on a couple of them. So I got the top three risers on LuddX. So the risers of the week, number three, Matthew Stafford. He's, his scans have increased 56%. That's a big jump. I know I've done this, we've done this enough now, Brian, but I know that's a pretty significant leap, isn't it? Yeah, that's huge. 56% increase. His 2009 Topps Chrome Refractor rookie card at a PSA 10 at the beginning of December was $1,911 on 1-11. Wow. Holy moly, less than a month. That's like, my math's right, 40 days. We've got almost a doubling of value. Am I getting that right, Bella? Yep, that's correct. Bella Schaefer, executive producer extraordinaire, nearly doubled on this, Matthew Stafford. Unbelievable. Dude, I needed to pick that up. Brian, why didn't you tell me to pick up some refractor? Stafford, man, doubling up, man. That's like, what stock doubles in 40 days? Sign me up. Number two, Brock Purdy. Not necessarily surprised here either. Advancing in the playoffs. On 12-17, or is that 12-1? 12-17, it went for $375, and as of 1-11, it went for $560. Whoa, 32% at scan increase, and I appreciate, Bella, for reading that. My contacts are having this. Yeah, thank you, Bella, we're all. It sounds better to you, and my contacts are completely blurry. I gotta go get my eyes tested. LuddXTrendingPlayers, he was unranked, and he's now 54, Brock Purdy. Yep, and then our last one is a 2024 Panini Prism Silver, Caleb Williams, and it has had an 143% increase. On December 25th, it sold for $660, and as of 1-12, it sold for $800, bringing him from player number 34 to player number five. Scan increase, that was a scan increase of 142%. That's a leap. The Fallers, we'll go a little quicker on these. Number three Faller, A.J. Brown. Yep, he has had a 5% decrease. 8-30, it sold for $120, and as of 1-7, it has sold for $85, bringing him from player ranking 173 to 219. He's a complex individual. I don't know what to say about him, but it just seems like certain players always sort of like ruffle feathers. It's always receivers or like cornerback, or like, yeah, it's like the defensive cornerbacks or the, yeah, receivers. It's like me, me, me, me, me. Yep, Jordan Love. He has had- Number two dropper. Yep, he's had a 32% decrease in scans, and at 12-20, his card sold for $540, and as of 1-11, it has sold for $455, bringing him from player number 89 to player number 172. Yeah. Jordan not feeling the love. Uh, yeah, we really feel bad about this one. We don't. And, but Jordan played pretty well, I thought, actually. Played amazing. Yeah, I didn't think he had anything to do with the loss, but necessarily, and I buy his card. I think he's a hell of a player, but, you know, that's just investment talk. I'd love for him not to be on the Packers, but, you know, I do think he's a good player. But as a Bears fan, and I was a Bears fan before I knew Brian, like, they're kind of my other team. I grew up watching WGN. If you grew up in easy South Carolina, that's all the freak you had to watch is WGN and TBS on the channel. So I was a Cubs and a Bears fan since 1985. So under the radar. And you need an NFC team anyways. Exactly. You know, I got to share the love around. Now, I mean, I will admit, I will pull for Josh if it got down to, I'd be okay with the Bears and the Bills. I mean, how great, Bears, Bills. I mean, the alliteration, the, every, like, as a marker and a writer, like, there's so many things to like about how clean that is. And the logos and the hierarchy, all, you know, Josh Allen versus Caleb Wood. I mean, there's so many storylines. How great would that be? Yeah. I mean, we have to go to that. Will we go to that Super Bowl if that's who played? Yes, sir. I think we need to. Hopefully I'd get an invite. Or Ron. Absolutely. You get a press pass. Yeah, you get a press pass, fella. We can't do anything without you. So we'll just go out there and screw everything up. Justin Herbert's the, you know, the biggest loser of the week. He dropped off quite significantly. His scans decreased roughly 10%. Yep. 9% decrease and 10, 10, it's, his card sold for $1,215. And on 1-1, it sold for 830. Yikes. And he went from player number 48 to player 235. They just can't protect him. Yeah. Nah, he needs some help around him. We'll see what happens. I got one thing, uh, update on the collection, my, uh, my storage units. So I have like another 10 days before I have to say goodbye to those, the whole collection. Wow. What are you doing? The card shop is going to purchase them for me. So Luddix card shop is buying all 5 million cards from me. And so I kind of kept it in the family. You did keep it in the family. You sold it to yourselves. Ish. Yeah. Welcome to corporate world. But yeah, like Ryan's a founder and a very large stockholder, but he has a lot of other owners now. So, uh, yes, he sold it to the, uh, the, the card shop, which makes a ton of sense, dude, you need inventory. Yep. And also I seriously have looked and I sent some videos to you. I've worked through probably 15% of those cards. And every time I look through them, and every time I looked through them, I'm pulling crazy stuff out, especially now nineties inserts are getting really popular. Yeah. So I pulled a couple of those numbered, low numbered ones. And those are, those are awesome cards. PMGs, um, yeah. What's that? Did you find any like Atlanta Braves classics that you should send me or anything? I'm actually putting some of my chippers aside for you. Hey, I love that. Um, you know, I was, I was in the eighties, nineties, like late seventies, maybe age myself a little bit, like three years old. I have some like pictures. I was in like an Atlanta Braves onesie or something. I don't know. Like, uh, yeah, I still wear it every now and then around my finger. Uh, yeah, Dale Murphy, Dale Murphy onesie. I'm telling you Bob Horner, Rafael Ramirez. All right, come on. Don't even, don't even test me. Uh, those are my boys. I was like, uh, the, the real love of the industry was sparked by, you know, Sid Bream, rounding the bases with the hobbling leg, the peg leg, whatever. When in that super, I mean, it's a world series. That was so slow. Was that 91? I think so. 90, 91. That's just some good years, man. Good years. That's what all the, a heart of the junk wax, unfortunately, when I was collecting the most cards, probably, but yeah, man, it's been a good week. A lot of things going on. We appreciate everybody for listening. And, uh, Brian, any final thoughts for everyone? No, I'm good, my man. Always a pleasure. Yeah, man. Get back to it. Brian's building the new HQ for LudX in Chicago. That's L U D E X. You need to go to the app store, download the app. They need later telling you it's the best scanning app in the app store. And for digital collection, for managing your eBay listings, there's a million benefits. And look, Brian's working with his team, who's a bunch of badasses every day on new features, new functionality, and new things that are coming. You want to get in that ecosystem so you know what's happening. You'll get subscribed to their newsletter, all the content. They're doing amazing things. And we're proud to work with them. And I'm just proud to have him as a friend. I appreciate you, Brian. Same back at you, buddy. Good luck this weekend. Yes, we will. We will prevail. We appreciate you for listening. Go to thecollectornation.com. You'll find all the highlight clips, links to LudX, links to all of my personal social media, and of course, everything else that we've got going on. And go bear up, baby. Go bear up. Coat up, suit up, sock up. Get those electric socks off, man. I'm going to be on my couch with a beer watching it. But either way, go bears, go bills. We appreciate you. We'll see you next time on Collector Nation. Thanks for tuning into the show. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform. And don't miss the full video version on YouTube. You can find us at collectornation.com or follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Alford. Now get out there and collect yours.