Black Boxes Are Ready To Rock

Press Pass is ready!  Upper Deck is ready!  And by the looks of it Panini is getting ready as well.  When it comes to making promos and giveaways, Panini really takes the cake.  Their legendary Black Boxes are one of the main attractions during the annual Industry Summit.  This year will not be any different.  Attendees will find a shamrock-shaped Rated Rookie logo T-shirt inside their welcome bag.  Five random collectors will be awarded a Black Box early on Monday if you’re caught wearing this T-shirt.

Upon completion of Panini’s presentation on Tuesday, the rest of the Black Boxes will be distributed.  Whats in a Black Box you ask?  Every Black Box will contain a special Industry Summit exclusive autograph or relic.  Collectors will also find Industry Summit exclusive 2013 Select Football Green Prizm parallels.  Each of these parallels will be limited to 15 copies.  Promos made for specific events such as the Industry Summit that can be integrated within an already established card set like Select are a fantastic idea.

No word yet from Topps on what their Industry Summit promos will look like.  It wouldn’t surprise me if it has something to do with 2014 Topps Heritage that comes out very shortly.  But that’s just a guess.

Press Pass Shows Off 2014 Industry Summit Promos

Given that the 2014 Industry Summit is held in mid-March, it makes perfect sense for Press Pass’s promos to be pre-draft football related.  For those lucky collectors who plan on attending, check out some of the promos Press Pass plans to distribute.  It wouldn’t surprise me if they threw in a few autographed versions too like they have in the past.

Upper Deck Unveils 2014 Industry Summit Promos Among All The Drama

The Industry Summit has been getting a lot of attention this year, and not for the right reasons.  Apparently In The Game and Leaf aren’t members of the cool club at school since they won’t be allowed to attend.  This has resulted in a law suit from Leaf, and Dr. Price of ITG has openly expressed his opinions to the world on this matter.  What do I think of this?  I think its garbage.  Every manufacturer involved within this hobby should be allowed to attend and voice their opinions.  Brian Gray of Leaf did take some shots at other companies during his speech last year, but that’s no reason to block him out.  If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.  Why ITG isn’t allowed to attend is a complete mystery to me.  Both licensed and non-licensed manufacturers have the right to be there.  Don’t change the rules mid-game and say non-licensed manufacturers can’t go.  Onyx Authenticated and Press Pass are on the list of attendees, and they issue non-licensed products all the time.  Its all just excuses covering up the truth.  Bullies afraid they might lose something.

Whatever your opinion is on the whole Industry Summit thing, you have to admit what manufacturers are allowed to come give away some great stuff.  I’d go as far to say that their promos are better than the stuff you’d get during the National Sports Collectors Convention.  They should be considering all the money these dealers spend on their products each year.  Plus they can help offset the costs of attending.  With the Industry Summit just a few weeks away, I thought we’d be seeing more promo previews of what attendees might find.  But so far we haven’t see too much.

With Upper Deck celebrating their 25th anniversary, you can expect them to be giving away all types of promos throughout the year.  Especially during the Industry Summit and NSCC.  Upper Deck plans to give out 25th anniversary autograph, dual autograph, and quad autograph cards randomly to Upper Deck Certified Diamond Dealers during the 2014 Industry Summit.  What else is coming has yet to be seen.  If you get your hands on one of the above cards, there is a good chance you might forget all the drama surrounding this year’s Industry Summit.  I know I would.  Hopefully we get to see some more promos before the Industry Summit starts.

Card of the Day: Willis Reed 12-13 Panini Select Green Industry Summit Parallel

Card of the Day: LeBron James 2013 Upper Deck Infinite Industry Summit Exclusives

2011 Industry Summit Thoughts

In my mind the 2011 Industry Summit seems to be getting a lot more attention this year than usual.  Panini seems to be stirring up the most attention with its new distribution system, HD video trading cards, and their popular Black Boxes.  Black Boxes are cool, HD trading cards are way cool, but I’m not a fan of the new distribution system.  It focuses on minimum pricing and a week long delay for non-card shop retailers.  This system is suppose to drive more collectors to brick and mortar shops, because online dealers won’t be able to sell new wax until it has been out for a week in the hobby shops, and they won’t be able to drop the price level past a certain amount.  To make a long story short, after this system has been in place for a few years, don’t be surprised if you see 5 year old Panini products selling for close to what they were when they originally came out.  There isn’t a real need to complain, because I don’t think this system will last.  Its just a small blip on the hobby radar.

I’m really interested to see a working model of Panini’s HD video cards.  I doubt that it could get anymore authentic then watching a video on the card of the player signing the card.  I just hope collectors will be able to replace the batteries when they run out.  Or maybe they’ll be powered by the pure power of the hobby 🙂

According to Sports Card Radio, Leaf is suppose to be creating a tri-fold booklet that contains cut signatures of John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, and a car seat relic from the actual car JFK was shot in.  Sounds kinda creepy, but also kinda cool.

On April 12th, Upper Deck plans to unveil “Evolution” that is suppose to change the hobby.  I’m not sure whats its about, but I bet it deals with on-card video too.  Perhaps it will involve some type of interactive card.  Lots of exciting stuff going on!

Panini’s New Medieval Card Creating Castle

Panini America, Inc has moved into a new HQ and man does it look good.  Panini’s marketing guy, Scott Prusha, did an excellent job designing it.  For even more pictures, be sure to check out The Knight’s Lance.

Possibly the coolest looking doorway of any manufacturer.

For those of you that are attending the 2011 Industry Summit in Las Vegas, Panini will be supplying their popular Black Boxes.  Each box contains a bunch of exclusive “hits”, including a one-of-one.  You can pull cards like the one pictured above.  More pictures can be seen here.

2010 Las Vegas Industry Summit Promos

Maybe its just me, but I haven’t heard a lot out of the 2010 Las Vegas Summit thats going on this week.  If you could afford to attend, I guess industry leaders get together and talk about how to improve The Hobby.  Who knows if anything is getting done, but a few promos have hit the market that I’d like to share.

Otto Graham

Walter Payton

Each of these were provided to certain people as promos.  Both cards are numbered 1/1 and come encased with a Panini sticker across the top.

You can’t forget about Benchwarmers.  Who actually collects these other than overweight guys who have a 98% chance of appearing on an episode of Cops.

I also heard from Upper Deck that they provided a lot of memorabilia and Greats of the Game jersey sheets.  I’d sure like to see what they look like.

2010 Las Vegas Sports Collectibles Industry Summit

On April 11-14, 2010 the sports collectibles industry will be having its trade show/conference that usually takes place in Hawaii, but instead this year it will be in Las Vegas.  I’ve never attended this conference, but would really like to someday.  You get the chance to meet industry leaders and listen in on discussions about The Hobby.  Of coarse, just like The National, one of the biggest draws to this are the promos that many of the guests receive.  In the past, one of the most popular promos are the Black Boxes provided by Donruss/Playoff (Panini).  I purchased a Black Box a few years ago and inside were seven 1/1 printing plates, and two of them were autographed.  Black Boxes aren’t the only promos flying around either.  There are a ton of autograph and memorabilia cards for collectors to snatch up.  I e-mailed Kevin Isaacson who is one of the event hosts to see if they could let me know what kind of promos they plan to have this year.

Attending this conference isn’t like going to The National, for one thing it costs a lot more.  The early bird special is only $299.  For more information you can check out their website here.  Who knows?  Maybe someday Sports Card Info will be a sponsor too.

This Manning autograph was a promo during the ’07 conference.