🎲 How Sports Betting and Gambling Are Changing the Sports Card Hobby If you’ve been around the sports card hobby for a while, you’ve probably noticed something strange happening. The lines between collecting, investing, and straight-up gambling have started to blur. Ten years ago, card collecting was mostly about nostalgia — chasing your favorite players,…

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          The Full Story: 1986 Fleer vs. 1984 Star #101 Michael Jordan Cards Grab your PSA holders and settle in—this is the collector’s deep dive you’ve been waiting for, straight from someone who’s traded stories over card tables, jittered over mistakes, and chased these beauties with caffeine-fueled determination. 1986-87 Fleer #57…

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How Many Cards Does PSA Grade? Mind-blowing volume alert: Since 1991, PSA has graded over 65 million items—that’s across cards, memorabilia, photos, and more Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA). In 2023, they graded about 13.5 million cards, leading the industry SI. 2024 was even bigger—they nailed 15.34 million cards graded (9.1M sports and 6.23M TCG &…

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Oh man, you’ve hit on one of my favorite topics: why suddenly guys who normally buy yachts, vineyards, and Teslas that drive themselves into lakes are now dropping six and seven figures on sports cards. Let’s break this down hobby-content-creator style—with a few laughs—into the big factors fueling this wave of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) joining…

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Brian Gray: The Card Biz Veteran Turned Podcast Mogul If you’ve been in the sports-card world for a minute, you’ve undoubtedly run into the name Brian Gray. Early Career: Razor Entertainment to Leaf Resurrection In 2005, Brian Gray founded Razor Entertainment Group in Dallas, an early-foray into high-end collectibles, perfecting lithographic printing through series like…

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Smaller sports card shops could be walking into a very different playing field if high-profile athletes open their own card stores with the backing—directly or indirectly—of Fanatics/Topps. Here’s the breakdown of the challenges and how they might fight back: Challenges for Small Card Shops 1️⃣ Star Power & Marketing Reach Athlete-owned shops will instantly get…

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Here’s a glimpse of the 2025 NSCC floor layout captured from the interactive Ludex map, showing the block-style booth grid and flow of the halls. It’s super useful for visual planning and gets you familiar with how the show is arranged under one roof. Color-Coded Floor Strategy for NSCC 2025 Based on the booth layout…

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Event Highlights The 45th NSCC took place July 30 to August 3, 2025, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois.The Cardboard Connectionnsccshow.com It featured a massive setup, with over 500,000 square feet of trading floor, more than 600 dealer booths, autograph sessions, live breaks, auctions, and exclusive brand redemption programs.The Cardboard Connection…

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Here’s how sports card prices could continue to rise based on U.S. inflation and monetary policy: 📈 1. Inflation Increases Asset Prices — Including Cards Inflation reduces the purchasing power of the dollar. As dollars become less valuable, hard assets (like real estate, gold, and even rare sports cards) can become more expensive. If a…

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The 2024 Panini Rookie Royalty WNBA set (branded as “Rookie Royalty” but officially noted on cardbacks as 2024–25 Panini Instant WNBA Basketball) launched via a Dutch Auction on June 30, 2025, at 11 AM CT, starting at $30,000 per hobby box (floor dropped to around $3,000) Talksport+15Checklist Insider+15Cllct+15. 🔗 Rookie Royalty Autographs—Current Listings **Noir Gold Sneaker…

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