The only way to succeed in speculation is finding the diamond in the rough player who isn’t hyped as a rookie. Brady, Jokic, Giannis are perfect examples of players that didn’t have a lot of hype when their rookie cards came out so they were cheap. Now every hyped rookie’s cars are expensive because most collectors are speculating on them. That’s why Mahomes card doesn’t move despite 3 SuperBowls. Most collectors have a Mahomes rookie card by now, so there is no new crop of would be buyers. Just look at Connor Bedard as everyone is ripping packs of UD Series 2. His raw has already flatlined at $500 because every collector has already speculated him. Once the jig is up on a player by the hobby, the price shoots up and pretty much flatlines because the speculation of being in the Hall of Fame is already baked in. The only way for prices to rise on Mahomes is if you get an influx of new collectors to the hobby. Thats what happened during Covid as prices shot up on everything and now going back down as those same people excited the hobby
Now THIS is something that resignates. I can completely understand the Conor Bedard facts you stated. You had a guy state that cards are a "commodity" above as his reasoning..which is wild to me because you have people just stating things that don't make sense as a reason. THIS is the reason IMO.
I disagree that it's strictly a hobby, completely. I do believe it's an easy way to cope with losses by saying it's just a hobby. But to each their own I guess.
@speedy-vu6vr I am not invested heavily in cards. I mean who tf is putting all of their money in cards? I mean it's more of a reason for me to watch games more than anything. I root for the player's cards I have. It's not that serious for me but maybe others. I dunno.
@@BM_718I only put money into the hobby for investment purposes, but it's all vintage. Of course, I'm also a collector. You have to be a collector to stick to it. I know I'm in the minority, but investing in the hobby has treated me much better than any traditional investment.
5 years ago, the football card market was banking on a mass position player surge. Never happened, never will. Many investors are “hoping” for the market to “come around”. Never will. Football cards are great to collect but they are not investments.
Football cards are the worst of all sports. Always has been that way for decades before the boom. One whole side of the ball (defense) is essentially worthless. And on offense, other than elite HOF QBs, there are short careers and little to no long term value. You have to be an unbelievable generational talent to maintain any long term value at any position outside of QB.
He has too much invested in Ridder so no way he will allow that. It's the same reason people still prop up PSA when they know that they give 10's for profit since the higher the grade the more $ they charge you at check out. People with the most money invested will continue to lie until their investment is realized or liquidated then the truth always comes out.
So happy I stumbled across this video. I have been preaching this all along. I’m telling everybody collect what you love or what makes you happy not just what makes you money. With that this hobby will thrive.
TPott, you’re spot-on, as usual. The numbers paint a sobering picture. This video should be required viewing for anyone considering venturing into speculating or investing in football cards. Obviously, anyone is free to collect/invest the way they want to, but they should at least understand the harsh realities of this particular market-especially when there are significant opportunity costs at stake.
100% spot on ! Great informative video. If collectors continue to pay $1,000 for a box of wax and keep ripping and watching 95% of the value of those cards ripped drop to nearly zero. That is not healthy for the hobby.
I agree with 95% of your data and your take. I feel like you forgot to take into effect the role that a player being the face of a franchise plays into the value of a card. I'll give you an example from my personal experience: I'm a Jets fan and as a Jets fan I know that any QB we draft will never become the face of our franchise that we're looking for but I do know that any QB we sign or trade for can be. I also know that you can't spec on any Packers rookie Qb because they haven't started a rookie QB since 1987. You have to look at multiple aspects of the data.
I think football cards overall have a great chance to sustain - especially vintage. You mentioned that overall popularity of the sport in this country. If you ever just browse the vintage population numbers and compare to baseball its absurdly lower. I feel like that is just another natural lever to keep them desirable. I feel like eventually a lot of the post 2020 collectors will eventually realize this after getting pounded by poor speculation and shift towards the more stable vintage, 90s inserts, or 90s/2000s game used market.
I think it has more to do with availability of the cards. Yes football is way too qb centric. But availability is the key. The chase cards continue to surface more rapidly than the demand increases regardless of their play on the fid. That is the reason serial numbered rc's make more sense as an index. Base cards keep showing up way beyond demand can sustain prices.
Here are the QB’s that have long term value since 1980: Montana Marino Elway Young Aikman Favre Manning (Peyton) Brady Brees Roethlisberger Rodgers Mahomes Even Big Ben and Aikman are debatable. Think about this list. This is 40 years of collecting football cards, and about 12 QB’s stand out.
@@JtevkicksandcardsEli definitely does. Big market team and stays relevant in the sport with his family. Manningcast just extended 10 years. Peyton and Eli are comedic gold on TV.
Love this analysis. These numbers will help the hobby in the long run. I see this thumbnail has attracted a lot of negative comments as it is a somewhat negative thumbnail despite the unbiased information… trading cards are the original NFT. The economy is rough. Propensity to consume is going down and might take some time to recover yet wax is more expensive than ever. People love sports and love collecting. It’s a nice break from the harsh reality of life and great way to become a part of a community and learn about the basics of supply and demand. Yes, we can all can provide more value to this world than buying cardboard portraits in hopes of getting rich! We are here because we love it and those of us that spend money to break won’t be around much longer if this market gets filled with skeptic cynics.
I watched a LT Topps Chrome superfractor sell for like $200 through an eBay auction... couldn't believe it. So much so that I never even bid bc I thought it was going to go wayyyy higher.
Perfect video. Been saying it for years and, when you showed that Moss/Rice dual on-card auto and compared it selling at 8k vs. a Fields selling for 90k, that's everything wrong with the football card market. While some see it as a negative, I see football cards as - EASILY - the biggest opportunity in sports cards. These top few players at the non-QB positions are severely undervalued when you factor in how much money is being just burned through on the QB crop every year. I'm always looking to add the early 2000's on-card/HOFer autos and other nice stuff from back then. There is insane growth potential if some of the collectors in other sports, that appreciate every part of the game and players at all positions, start to move into football.
Because collectors are buying the rice/moss. The flippers toss around the modern cards like a hot potato. When the hype quickly fades whoever is holding it can barely get 10% of the recent highs because it's realistically all it's worth.
We can do the same with the other major sports as well. Baseball - Catchers and Pitchers to an extent. Hockey/Soccer - Goalies and Defenders Basketball - Centers (Jokic aside) and Power Forwards.
@@richardbianco9674 not true. Catchers and Pitchers are extremely undervalued, even if they are power hitters vs a Shortstop or outfielder. Goalies especially get zero value compared to an attacker, even though their defense plays a major part. And Centers get no respect, otherwise Bam Adebayo, Rudy Gobert, Jarrett Allen would not be the miniscule prices they are.
@gsquared.collectibles8392 I'm talking not only short term but long term. Many pitchers and catchers have value rivaling the ss or of ones. There is still a gap yes but not the huge 10x or more difference like we see in football. The best of all time still rise to the top.
Every year Mahomes wins a SB is another year Burrow and Allen do not, get older and fail to add greatness their prices require. Its a dour topic to cover when speaking on behalf of a guy (Geoff Wilson) having just invested into a 14,000 sq/ft card store.
Nice to see you are finally starting to catch on to how this all works. Just hard to hear you mention this as an investment still. I would suggest comparing cards to cars.
I agree with every single sentence that T-pott is saying here, and I’ve been harping the same exact comments for the last few years. And it’s the reason why I completely sold all of my football and went 100% into basketball. There’s only three positions in the entire sport that people are willing to buy in terms of high- dollar cards. And out of the three positions, 90% are all QB’s…. Your sport is broken. Everyone has been buying the same seven quarterbacks over the last few years. Only one quarterback can win this generation. The other quarterbacks can only win one to three Super Bowls max if they’re lucky. so you’re betting the farm on a quarterback that will have a John Elway career? 😂😂😂 This is exactly why 99% of all football product will go down 99%. Brady and Mahomes are literally the only two cards you should be buying ever. I’m glad Mahomes was the only quarterback that I ever bought. And even I was smart enough to sell all of the cards after the second Super Bowl. People buy all five positions in basketball. Variables between teammates are much lower in Basketball, and basketball players play both sides of the ball. Football just has too many players that are specialized to do small tasks, they don’t play long careers very often. Football is almost un-investable in my eyes. When Joe Montana and Jerry Rice cards are inexpensive, you know these new kids have no hope. The day Brock Purdy cards started selling for more than Tom Brady cards, was the day I was convinced football is just hype sport. And I’m a 49er fan from San Francisco. 😂😂😂 Baseball is also another dying sport. You have one true prospect in Ohtani. If you’re new to the hobby and open minded, just go into Basketball. Basketball is growing globally and all you need is a hoop, a pair of shoes and a ball to play. Being able to go to any local gym in your city and actually play the sport I think gives Basketball the edge over the other two sports. Most people never play baseball or football again after high school.
I agree with you that football cards are top heavy on QB’s, and even more top heavy on elite QB’s like Brady and Mahomes. Where I disagree is basketball cards have been trending down too. Curry won another title in 2022 and his cards didn’t move much. Giannis cards have dropped since he won the title in 2021. Anthony Davis, Durant and Kwahi cards have all flatlined or decreased. And of course Zion cards have crashed. Now Jokic cards have increased but they will eventually flatline like Curry. I think your description of football cards pretty much sums up the whole hobby.
I would add that basketball is one of the only sports with awesome action shots on cards (yes there are exceptions). Football is horrid with players hiding behind helmets.
LMAO, basketball cards are even more dog $ hit. Its even more top heavy than any sport. Baseball was, is and always will be king. Football and Basketball is all going to zero other than a few goats.😂😂😂
I collect HOF rookie cards of NFL. Lineman, owners, coaches, and all. Other than a few higher end vintage Qb’s and maybe Jim Thorpe it’s a very doable set to complete
Ive been collecting sports cards since the 80's. I always wondered why NFL cards weren't the most dominant being the NFL is the by far the most popular sport in the USA. IMO I think its the nature of shorter careers, injuries, and there seems to be a more of a what have you done for me lately trend to football. Its more about the teams than the players. A big prospective rookie class of QBs like 2021 where people paid a lot for their cards got burned badly when they were mostly busts. This affects interest. Great video T-Pot
Like you said its Overhype with QBs and skill position rookies, Most players don't live up to it. Plus Injuries are obviously more prominent in the NFL and in todays card investing world one injury can cause a downfall with alot of players card values even if they rebound.
Its also about popularity of the sport as a whole... That's why the NFL venturing into the Mexican market and especially the European market is important long term. Basketball has a BIG head start overseas. Baseball has Central America and Japan, What will the future of MLB card collecting look like in those countries?
I use to just buy the entire box and let them sit on my self. My theory was I let the valuable cards come to me and not go out years later chasing the cards. It's to late the other way around. But to each his own.
Man no offense to football card holders but I never really trusted football cards because it always seemed there’s no real appreciation for rb, wr, Defense yet a quarter back card will go for massive massive numbers. Always felt it was very contradicting
100% nailed it. People need to collect because X player is the GOAT at their position, or was a huge piece of a dynasty's success - not simply because there's a small a chance someone COULD be great because of hype, and they just want to cash in. it destroys the football market.
How TF hasn’t Mahomes RC went up? He has literally had an almost perfect career and it doesn’t move. Starting to feel cards are just a gamble and not an investment.
Mahomes cards are up 8.75% over the last 3 months and his prizm silver rookie up 79% since last year. It’s dangerous when you present cherry-picked stats in a vacuum with no context. Teapot can find any stat and use it to support his narrative. It’s lazy
There are much better investments out there. But if you like to collect cards because you like cards and want a somewhat return in the future then that is why you buy sports cards. Mahomes rookies with be worth triple if not more 10-15 years from now btw
@@user-vi5vd3ty9dnot true, cards are definitely investments. But you don’t invest when the card is at an all time high 😂. Just like you don’t invest in a stock or crypto in a bullish market. You invest when that stock or coin is down in a bearish market. Tell people that invested in 1986 fleer basketball that those cards weren’t an investment
6:10 the only argument for things like this is that if Stroud and Bryce had been on opposite teams, do both look average or does Bryce shine because of his team and vice versa? Like you said it’s a team game and it’s super unfortunate when great players end up on horrible teams and it takes them into/past their prime to get traded to a team that actually helps them shine like they did in college.
Great video T-Pot. I’ve been saying this for years. Barry Sanders, even though a junk wax rookie card, is more valuable than a modern day “meh” QB. Lawrence Taylor, Deion Sanders, Rod Woodson, Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, Marvin Harrison, Calvin Johnson, etc. All those players should be at the same high value and appreciation level as a modern day “meh” QB. Football needs to shift to valuing the Top 20 HOF of each position equally. This QB is king mindset is idiotic honestly.
Great to see T-pott do a data dive on this issue in the football card hobby. It’s about time someone called it out. And T-Pott’s right. But the football side of the hobby has been like this for a long, long time. Quarterbacks are overvalued and they drive the hobby. Especially the investment side. And especially the “hot prospects”. I used to have this incredible, extensive Randy Moss rookie collection. I eventually sold two/thirds to three/fourths of it. Why? Because it kept depreciating even though he would add to his legendary status (and stats) every year. While hot prospect quarterbacks that were starting to fall off into mediocrity (or even bust) were still breaking even or depreciating slower. If legends at other positions like Randy Moss can’t buck the quarterback trend, I had to ask myself who could? All of the points you covered are exactly why I invest in basketball and I use football for flipping.
I used to collect and deal from mid-70s through about 2000. No matter how annoying silly I found the card market back then, I couldn't have been more shocked when I began checking out the market again about 3 years ago. As crazy as it got, I could not understand/fathom the football market at all. QBs were all that mattered and it were being flipped for outrageous amounts. THAT is what made the football market significantly change to 'QB or Bust!', which was crazy to me. A majority of these QBs were never going anything special, but if they played QB, they got unbelievably hyped FOR THAT SEASON. The next season, it was all about the new crop. Back when the truly historically great QBs entered the NFL, only a select few came into the league as starters, while most 'held the clipboard for 1-3 years' to learn their craft. Now these guys are expected to start and most fail miserably within a year or two. It's actually kind of sad. My point to all of this is that even though I don't always agree with your takes, on this one I AGREE 100%. I may take a shot with some football boxes from time to time, but if I don't pull a QB out of those, I don't chase the QBs at all. It's a losing proposition if you don't pull them and sell them right away.
theres a lot of reasons for this but one I think of is a persons emotional connection to the player. A football team as a crazy amount of players and there is a ton of turnover on teams from year to year so collectors don't develop connections to their teams players plus the aveage career legnth of a football player is like 3 years or even less idk I think thats a part of the issue
Looking at your list and seeing Andrew Luck….. If he doesn’t have the terrible luck with injuries and retires at 29…. which of his 2012 Draft contemporaries would he have resembled now ?…. Cousins getting 4y/$180M or Tannehill being a free agent with uncertain value / being signed as a clear low-priced back-up… 🤷♂️
Because we live in a fiat money system, fundamentals have largely detached from price. Because everyone knows instinctually, you can't hold the currency and have to buy something. So it creates a gamblers mindset. People start acting like investing and gambling is the same. Buying Justin Fields (who's definitely not even going to be very good) is like buying crypto "alt" coins because you didn't take the time to understand the whole thing at all. If you did you would just buy all-time greats in practically 1 of 1s like Polamalu, bitcoin, real estate, etc. Buy it's mostly just gambling monkeys in everything 😂
It's funny how back 15 to 20 years yes quarterbacks where the top but man we used to be in making money or wide receivers and running backs defensive players like Ray Lewis but the whole collecting market and the companies that feed these hobbies feed you the quarter back and them only for big dollars
Baseball cards and Football cards are like polar opposites. Baseball has more investment potential in the position players over the pitchers, Football has more investment value in QB's over all other positions. Crazy
Ask anyone chasing all the hot rookies what they think of all the hot rookies from 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago and you will either get a meh or who answer with rare exceptions. That is where the guy you are chasing will be over time too and you are absolutely over paying for him if you hold him longer than a year.
The way cards are valued is flawed. Values will go to nothing if price is always from last comp. I buy a lot of doubles but I usually pay more for the first one and will wait till a seller needs to move something or sneak an auction steal for the other. That shouldn't make the value of the first card decrease just because I bought another one alike. And if an auction goes by with no eyes on it and it gets a low buying bid, the card and all others alike shouldn't loose value just because the seller honors the sell of that card even though he knows it's worth more and takes a loss.
Look at this career numbers from two wide receivers that played at the same exact time: Player A: 218 games, 982 catches, 15292 yards, 157 total touchdowns Player B: 219 games, 1078 catches, 15934 yards, 156 total touchdowns Those numbers are so close that you cannot slide a chewing gum wrapper in between them. Now consider that about 40-45% of plays in the NFL during this time are running plays, and Player A is known for taking running downs off while Player B is known to be an exceptional blocker. Player A is Randy Moss. Player B is Terrell Owens. One blocked and the other didn’t. That’s it.
Interesting in that in baseball, pitchers are the single player that can have the most impact on a game. Yet baseball card collectors typically shy away rather than place the entire spotlight and bankroll on them
This is one of the reasons why I believe basketball cards are a better risk. There is one additional factor unique to football that you don’t have w BB. In FB, if a player (especially a QB) has a bad game, the talking heads have an entire week to trash and critique that player. In BB, if a star player has a bad game, 24-48 hours later, he can redeem himself and the bad game is quickly forgotten. In FB, one bad performance triggers a week of scrutiny and added focus and pressure for the following week’s game. In BB, a player can play 3-4 games in one week. It’s also a more international sport. You will have an easier time getting a collector with deep pockets in China, Japan or Europe pay top dollar for a sought after Luka or Giannis rookie than a Lamar or Burrow rookie. Outside the US, American Football does not resonate with sports fans like BB does. And of course, in football - as you are highlighting - one position dominates. In BB, you can invest in a center (Jokic), a forward (Durant) or a guard (Curry) and have equal chance of the card increasing in value if that player does good things on the court. If the Minnesota Vikings win the SB, Justin Jefferson will likely receive far less love in the card world than whoever the QB is (which, I agree, doesn’t make much sense, but is what it is). Going to be hard to deter collectors to pay more attention to non-QB’s as far as NFL cards go
I say collect what you like me personally I like going for rainbows on lesser known players usually Dallas cowboys rookies like Demarvion Overshown which is my current project. It’s relatively inexpensive compared to trying that with someone like Anthony Richardson. I also don’t buy sealed product often there’s no hobby shop close to me so I’m limited to retail which is usually a big waste of money for me. I can take that money and buy several cards I’m actually looking for. People don’t think about the average career in the NFL is less than 3 years. That average doesn’t exempt quarterbacks that’s league wide average. With that being said short term flipping the hot prospect at QB isn’t a bad deal if you can get the card cheap grade and flip before the NFL decides they aren’t good enough then it’s on to the next guy. Speaking of which I got a bunch of Pickett cards I’m stuck with because well we all know what happened with that guy. Hype train nose dive.
Sports cards really aren’t long term investments. The only way to make money in this hobby is to play the hype and flip cards at the right time, or buy raw and grade to add some value
It's no longer a hobby or about collecting. The game has changed and you gotta look at sports cards now like you'd look at stocks that are fueled by sports betting gambling. It's all about the money now across the board.
Thats why people keep getting burned. Its not the stock market or any legit investment. Basically a high risk gamble where most lose a fortune. No thanks ill keep collecting so I never stop having fun. I don't have to stress over the money aspect.
I love buying dope defense cards i got a strahan 1/10 nat treasures all decade autograph for 39$ on ebay i love the card kaayvon rc auto dirt cheap osi umenyora auto dirt cheap its awesome
All this analysis says sell the hype and not invest into the long term, even if it’s just a season or less, a lot of the cards flew but came down, just hold nothing unless it’s for PC
Legends like Unitas, Brown ,Payton, Montana, Rice, Sanders ,Smith, Moss are all underpriced. Everyone overpaying on these hot prospects who won’t ever come close to being in the same conversation as these legends . Brady pump the last few years was reasonable and Mahomes is getting there and I am okay with him being added to the Goats conversation. Wish more respect was given to these older HOFers .
Exactly. A lot of those guys' cards have gotten back down within 10-15% above what they were going for in 2019. Some a bit higher but, with certain cards, it's absolutely worth it when you see how much money people burn on these shiny new QB's.
Even brady and mohomes amongst other greats got way overpriced. Highly doubt people in the future will pay anywhere near today's values they're just cards
QBs are also coming off an historically great period/ ‘class’. Over the next 8-10 years, the number of 1st (mayyyybe 2nd) ballot QBs who’ll make the Hall of Fame will make that era look golden and today’s QBs/era seem pedestrian. Go back to 2019 - just 5 years ago. On yards alone, the top 10 passing yard QBs who were still playing : Brady, Brees, Roethlisberger, Rivers, Ryan, Rodgers, Eli, Stafford, Wilson/Flacco. Now, in 2024, the current active Top 10 : Rodgers (HOF lock), Stafford (a 2nd or 3rd balloter IMO), Flacco, Wilson, Cousins, Carr, Dalton, Tannehill (Six great players, but would you say with absolute certainty that any singular player here makes the Hall ?), Goff & Prescott (with Mahomes at #11, then Allen is #12, but only 22,000 yards so from there down, any QB is a long way from being statistically close enough to be considered good enough to be a possible HOFer and the bump their cards would get from it.)
The title should say 99%+ of all sport card investments fail considering they're not much of an investment anyway. It really misled people the last four years when so many starting running with the idea that cards are investments its hard not laugh. Its nothing more then a guess of what's going to go up. Yea some went up a lot the last few years which is great if you sold and got paid. They're technically worth nothing. They go up quickly in periods of hype then plummet. Nearly all expensive cards bought the last 5 years have nowhere to go but down for along time. We're already seeing that now its not surprising.
The only way to succeed in speculation is finding the diamond in the rough player who isn’t hyped as a rookie. Brady, Jokic, Giannis are perfect examples of players that didn’t have a lot of hype when their rookie cards came out so they were cheap. Now every hyped rookie’s cars are expensive because most collectors are speculating on them. That’s why Mahomes card doesn’t move despite 3 SuperBowls. Most collectors have a Mahomes rookie card by now, so there is no new crop of would be buyers. Just look at Connor Bedard as everyone is ripping packs of UD Series 2. His raw has already flatlined at $500 because every collector has already speculated him. Once the jig is up on a player by the hobby, the price shoots up and pretty much flatlines because the speculation of being in the Hall of Fame is already baked in. The only way for prices to rise on Mahomes is if you get an influx of new collectors to the hobby. Thats what happened during Covid as prices shot up on everything and now going back down as those same people excited the hobby
Now THIS is something that resignates. I can completely understand the Conor Bedard facts you stated. You had a guy state that cards are a "commodity" above as his reasoning..which is wild to me because you have people just stating things that don't make sense as a reason. THIS is the reason IMO.
It’s a hobby. If you view it as an investment, you are already way behind the ball. Pun intended
I disagree that it's strictly a hobby, completely. I do believe it's an easy way to cope with losses by saying it's just a hobby. But to each their own I guess.
@speedy-vu6vr I am not invested heavily in cards. I mean who tf is putting all of their money in cards? I mean it's more of a reason for me to watch games more than anything. I root for the player's cards I have. It's not that serious for me but maybe others. I dunno.
@@BM_718I only put money into the hobby for investment purposes, but it's all vintage. Of course, I'm also a collector. You have to be a collector to stick to it. I know I'm in the minority, but investing in the hobby has treated me much better than any traditional investment.
It's both, otherwise you wouldn't see people making a living at it
1%, So you’re telling me there’s a chance?!?! YYYYEEEESSSSSSS!!
5 years ago, the football card market was banking on a mass position player surge. Never happened, never will. Many investors are “hoping” for the market to “come around”. Never will. Football cards are great to collect but they are not investments.
Football cards are the worst of all sports. Always has been that way for decades before the boom. One whole side of the ball (defense) is essentially worthless. And on offense, other than elite HOF QBs, there are short careers and little to no long term value. You have to be an unbelievable generational talent to maintain any long term value at any position outside of QB.
Man, Geoff wouldn’t allow you to label Desmond ridder a bust yet huh… 😂😂😂 you got Pickett as a bust already. Influencers…
I had an emoji on ridder to be playful. Hes definitely a bust! 😅
He has too much invested in Ridder so no way he will allow that. It's the same reason people still prop up PSA when they know that they give 10's for profit since the higher the grade the more $ they charge you at check out. People with the most money invested will continue to lie until their investment is realized or liquidated then the truth always comes out.
Geoff himself has already labeled Ridder a bust... Stop hating, start listening.
So happy I stumbled across this video. I have been preaching this all along. I’m telling everybody collect what you love or what makes you happy not just what makes you money. With that this hobby will thrive.
TPott, you’re spot-on, as usual. The numbers paint a sobering picture. This video should be required viewing for anyone considering venturing into speculating or investing in football cards. Obviously, anyone is free to collect/invest the way they want to, but they should at least understand the harsh realities of this particular market-especially when there are significant opportunity costs at stake.
100% spot on ! Great informative video. If collectors continue to pay $1,000 for a box of wax and keep ripping and watching 95% of the value of those cards ripped drop to nearly zero. That is not healthy for the hobby.
I agree with 95% of your data and your take. I feel like you forgot to take into effect the role that a player being the face of a franchise plays into the value of a card. I'll give you an example from my personal experience: I'm a Jets fan and as a Jets fan I know that any QB we draft will never become the face of our franchise that we're looking for but I do know that any QB we sign or trade for can be. I also know that you can't spec on any Packers rookie Qb because they haven't started a rookie QB since 1987. You have to look at multiple aspects of the data.
Another great topic with solid research! Thanks T-pott!
I think football cards overall have a great chance to sustain - especially vintage. You mentioned that overall popularity of the sport in this country. If you ever just browse the vintage population numbers and compare to baseball its absurdly lower. I feel like that is just another natural lever to keep them desirable. I feel like eventually a lot of the post 2020 collectors will eventually realize this after getting pounded by poor speculation and shift towards the more stable vintage, 90s inserts, or 90s/2000s game used market.
I think it has more to do with availability of the cards. Yes football is way too qb centric. But availability is the key. The chase cards continue to surface more rapidly than the demand increases regardless of their play on the fid. That is the reason serial numbered rc's make more sense as an index. Base cards keep showing up way beyond demand can sustain prices.
100% cards are not an investment. The data on Mahomes proves this. It’s a hobby! Collect what you like.
Agree somewhat. Check back in 10+ years and see how much that Mahomes rookie is worth. Look at Brady’s rookie.
It's just gambling, major selling at a loss and very few are profitable
Capitalism
@@animalmother53 yea who can afford it
@@animalmother53Brady's rookie cards are much much rarer than mahomes.
@@dancompton1686check back in 10 years
You are 100% correct. Great information. Thank you
Here are the QB’s that have long term value since 1980:
Montana
Marino
Elway
Young
Aikman
Favre
Manning (Peyton)
Brady
Brees
Roethlisberger
Rodgers
Mahomes
Even Big Ben and Aikman are debatable. Think about this list. This is 40 years of collecting football cards, and about 12 QB’s stand out.
Eli manning has value
@@JtevkicksandcardsEli definitely does. Big market team and stays relevant in the sport with his family. Manningcast just extended 10 years. Peyton and Eli are comedic gold on TV.
Love this analysis. These numbers will help the hobby in the long run. I see this thumbnail has attracted a lot of negative comments as it is a somewhat negative thumbnail despite the unbiased information… trading cards are the original NFT. The economy is rough. Propensity to consume is going down and might take some time to recover yet wax is more expensive than ever. People love sports and love collecting. It’s a nice break from the harsh reality of life and great way to become a part of a community and learn about the basics of supply and demand.
Yes, we can all can provide more value to this world than buying cardboard portraits in hopes of getting rich!
We are here because we love it and those of us that spend money to break won’t be around much longer if this market gets filled with skeptic cynics.
Really enjoyed the math and stats…much appreciated 🤓🤓…the joy of the hobby chasing hype and potential vs football cards as an investment
Outstanding analysis, Teapot. You nailed this one.
Totally agree with putting more investment emphasis on proven, retired players. Great vid, T-Pott!
I watched a LT Topps Chrome superfractor sell for like $200 through an eBay auction... couldn't believe it. So much so that I never even bid bc I thought it was going to go wayyyy higher.
I got an LT on card autographed 1/1 printing plate and a Flawless on card auto for a combined $250.
Love your videos and analysis. Great info and helps collectors
Perfect video. Been saying it for years and, when you showed that Moss/Rice dual on-card auto and compared it selling at 8k vs. a Fields selling for 90k, that's everything wrong with the football card market. While some see it as a negative, I see football cards as - EASILY - the biggest opportunity in sports cards. These top few players at the non-QB positions are severely undervalued when you factor in how much money is being just burned through on the QB crop every year. I'm always looking to add the early 2000's on-card/HOFer autos and other nice stuff from back then. There is insane growth potential if some of the collectors in other sports, that appreciate every part of the game and players at all positions, start to move into football.
Because collectors are buying the rice/moss. The flippers toss around the modern cards like a hot potato. When the hype quickly fades whoever is holding it can barely get 10% of the recent highs because it's realistically all it's worth.
We can do the same with the other major sports as well.
Baseball - Catchers and Pitchers to an extent.
Hockey/Soccer - Goalies and Defenders
Basketball - Centers (Jokic aside) and Power Forwards.
The gap in those sports is not nearly this extreme though.
@@richardbianco9674 not true. Catchers and Pitchers are extremely undervalued, even if they are power hitters vs a Shortstop or outfielder. Goalies especially get zero value compared to an attacker, even though their defense plays a major part. And Centers get no respect, otherwise Bam Adebayo, Rudy Gobert, Jarrett Allen would not be the miniscule prices they are.
@gsquared.collectibles8392 I'm talking not only short term but long term. Many pitchers and catchers have value rivaling the ss or of ones. There is still a gap yes but not the huge 10x or more difference like we see in football. The best of all time still rise to the top.
I couldn't really argue with this except for the goalies in hockey... I've always admired how much respect the hockey card market gives to goalies.
Great breakdown as always, T-Pott 🍻
I bought a 1985 Topps USFL PSA 10 Reggie White five years ago. It's quadrupled in value since.
19:25 I love seeing the Pancakes stat for O-linemen and also highlights of said pancakes
Ridder is a bust
Every year Mahomes wins a SB is another year Burrow and Allen do not, get older and fail to add greatness their prices require. Its a dour topic to cover when speaking on behalf of a guy (Geoff Wilson) having just invested into a 14,000 sq/ft card store.
Speaking on behalf of Geoff Wilson? lol. What is it, some big card conspiracy?
Nice to see you are finally starting to catch on to how this all works. Just hard to hear you mention this as an investment still. I would suggest comparing cards to cars.
I agree with every single sentence that T-pott is saying here, and I’ve been harping the same exact comments for the last few years.
And it’s the reason why I completely sold all of my football and went 100% into basketball.
There’s only three positions in the entire sport that people are willing to buy in terms of high- dollar cards. And out of the three positions, 90% are all QB’s…. Your sport is broken.
Everyone has been buying the same seven quarterbacks over the last few years. Only one quarterback can win this generation. The other quarterbacks can only win one to three Super Bowls max if they’re lucky. so you’re betting the farm on a quarterback that will have a John Elway career? 😂😂😂
This is exactly why 99% of all football product will go down 99%.
Brady and Mahomes are literally the only two cards you should be buying ever.
I’m glad Mahomes was the only quarterback that I ever bought. And even I was smart enough to sell all of the cards after the second Super Bowl.
People buy all five positions in basketball. Variables between teammates are much lower in Basketball, and basketball players play both sides of the ball.
Football just has too many players that are specialized to do small tasks, they don’t play long careers very often.
Football is almost un-investable in my eyes. When Joe Montana and Jerry Rice cards are inexpensive, you know these new kids have no hope.
The day Brock Purdy cards started selling for more than Tom Brady cards, was the day I was convinced football is just hype sport. And I’m a 49er fan from San Francisco. 😂😂😂
Baseball is also another dying sport. You have one true prospect in Ohtani.
If you’re new to the hobby and open minded, just go into Basketball.
Basketball is growing globally and all you need is a hoop, a pair of shoes and a ball to play. Being able to go to any local gym in your city and actually play the sport I think gives Basketball the edge over the other two sports.
Most people never play baseball or football again after high school.
Undercutters
I agree with you that football cards are top heavy on QB’s, and even more top heavy on elite QB’s like Brady and Mahomes.
Where I disagree is basketball cards have been trending down too. Curry won another title in 2022 and his cards didn’t move much. Giannis cards have dropped since he won the title in 2021. Anthony Davis, Durant and Kwahi cards have all flatlined or decreased. And of course Zion cards have crashed. Now Jokic cards have increased but they will eventually flatline like Curry. I think your description of football cards pretty much sums up the whole hobby.
bro basketball? lol
I would add that basketball is one of the only sports with awesome action shots on cards (yes there are exceptions). Football is horrid with players hiding behind helmets.
LMAO, basketball cards are even more dog $ hit. Its even more top heavy than any sport. Baseball was, is and always will be king. Football and Basketball is all going to zero other than a few goats.😂😂😂
I'm sticking to vintage football, very affordable and highly under rated.
The sport is more popular than baseball now. Even in the junk wax error they were far less collected than baseball which should make them more rare.
Yup vintage bball great too
Basketball **
I collect HOF rookie cards of NFL. Lineman, owners, coaches, and all. Other than a few higher end vintage Qb’s and maybe Jim Thorpe it’s a very doable set to complete
Get with Soccer Cards TPott
Great vid and solid message T-Pot!
Ive been collecting sports cards since the 80's. I always wondered why NFL cards weren't the most dominant being the NFL is the by far the most popular sport in the USA.
IMO I think its the nature of shorter careers, injuries, and there seems to be a more of a what have you done for me lately trend to football. Its more about the teams than the players. A big prospective rookie class of QBs like 2021 where people paid a lot for their cards got burned badly when they were mostly busts. This affects interest.
Great video T-Pot
Like you said its Overhype with QBs and skill position rookies, Most players don't live up to it. Plus Injuries are obviously more prominent in the NFL and in todays card investing world one injury can cause a downfall with alot of players card values even if they rebound.
Its also about popularity of the sport as a whole... That's why the NFL venturing into the Mexican market and especially the European market is important long term. Basketball has a BIG head start overseas. Baseball has Central America and Japan, What will the future of MLB card collecting look like in those countries?
So your saying the 1000 dollar boxes are only 200 dollar boxes of packs
I use to just buy the entire box and let them sit on my self. My theory was I let the valuable cards come to me and not go out years later chasing the cards. It's to late the other way around. But to each his own.
Man no offense to football card holders but I never really trusted football cards because it always seemed there’s no real appreciation for rb, wr, Defense yet a quarter back card will go for massive massive numbers. Always felt it was very contradicting
100% nailed it. People need to collect because X player is the GOAT at their position, or was a huge piece of a dynasty's success - not simply because there's a small a chance someone COULD be great because of hype, and they just want to cash in. it destroys the football market.
Its important to note that theres two sides to this hobby: thats investing and speculating. Most content featured on this channel is speculation.
Where are Romo and Burrow on your chart?
How TF hasn’t Mahomes RC went up? He has literally had an almost perfect career and it doesn’t move. Starting to feel cards are just a gamble and not an investment.
Because he’s not white. Look at all these mid white athletes selling as high or higher than top tier whites or athletes who are not white.
Mahomes cards are up 8.75% over the last 3 months and his prizm silver rookie up 79% since last year. It’s dangerous when you present cherry-picked stats in a vacuum with no context. Teapot can find any stat and use it to support his narrative. It’s lazy
You just found this out?
There are much better investments out there. But if you like to collect cards because you like cards and want a somewhat return in the future then that is why you buy sports cards.
Mahomes rookies with be worth triple if not more 10-15 years from now btw
@@user-vi5vd3ty9dnot true, cards are definitely investments. But you don’t invest when the card is at an all time high 😂. Just like you don’t invest in a stock or crypto in a bullish market. You invest when that stock or coin is down in a bearish market. Tell people that invested in 1986 fleer basketball that those cards weren’t an investment
6:10 the only argument for things like this is that if Stroud and Bryce had been on opposite teams, do both look average or does Bryce shine because of his team and vice versa? Like you said it’s a team game and it’s super unfortunate when great players end up on horrible teams and it takes them into/past their prime to get traded to a team that actually helps them shine like they did in college.
Great video T-Pot. I’ve been saying this for years.
Barry Sanders, even though a junk wax rookie card, is more valuable than a modern day “meh” QB.
Lawrence Taylor, Deion Sanders, Rod Woodson, Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, Marvin Harrison, Calvin Johnson, etc. All those players should be at the same high value and appreciation level as a modern day “meh” QB.
Football needs to shift to valuing the Top 20 HOF of each position equally.
This QB is king mindset is idiotic honestly.
Great to see T-pott do a data dive on this issue in the football card hobby. It’s about time someone called it out. And T-Pott’s right. But the football side of the hobby has been like this for a long, long time.
Quarterbacks are overvalued and they drive the hobby. Especially the investment side. And especially the “hot prospects”.
I used to have this incredible, extensive Randy Moss rookie collection. I eventually sold two/thirds to three/fourths of it. Why? Because it kept depreciating even though he would add to his legendary status (and stats) every year. While hot prospect quarterbacks that were starting to fall off into mediocrity (or even bust) were still breaking even or depreciating slower. If legends at other positions like Randy Moss can’t buck the quarterback trend, I had to ask myself who could?
All of the points you covered are exactly why I invest in basketball and I use football for flipping.
Burrow didn’t even make the “Somewhat” category. Are we sure these numbers don’t have recency bias? Hot take. 😮
Great work T-Pot! Very scholarly 👍🏼
I used to collect and deal from mid-70s through about 2000. No matter how annoying silly I found the card market back then, I couldn't have been more shocked when I began checking out the market again about 3 years ago. As crazy as it got, I could not understand/fathom the football market at all. QBs were all that mattered and it were being flipped for outrageous amounts. THAT is what made the football market significantly change to 'QB or Bust!', which was crazy to me. A majority of these QBs were never going anything special, but if they played QB, they got unbelievably hyped FOR THAT SEASON. The next season, it was all about the new crop. Back when the truly historically great QBs entered the NFL, only a select few came into the league as starters, while most 'held the clipboard for 1-3 years' to learn their craft. Now these guys are expected to start and most fail miserably within a year or two. It's actually kind of sad.
My point to all of this is that even though I don't always agree with your takes, on this one I AGREE 100%. I may take a shot with some football boxes from time to time, but if I don't pull a QB out of those, I don't chase the QBs at all.
It's a losing proposition if you don't pull them and sell them right away.
Great video, thank you for the wakeup call
theres a lot of reasons for this but one I think of is a persons emotional connection to the player. A football team as a crazy amount of players and there is a ton of turnover on teams from year to year so collectors don't develop connections to their teams players plus the aveage career legnth of a football player is like 3 years or even less idk I think thats a part of the issue
Skipped over lamar jackson on that jersey list , he needs to be hyped also just not mahomes
I so agree with your insights on this importin subject.... nice work.🤔👏👏
Looking at your list and seeing Andrew Luck…..
If he doesn’t have the terrible luck with injuries and retires at 29…. which of his 2012 Draft contemporaries would he have resembled now ?…. Cousins getting 4y/$180M or Tannehill being a free agent with uncertain value / being signed as a clear low-priced back-up… 🤷♂️
Because we live in a fiat money system, fundamentals have largely detached from price. Because everyone knows instinctually, you can't hold the currency and have to buy something. So it creates a gamblers mindset. People start acting like investing and gambling is the same. Buying Justin Fields (who's definitely not even going to be very good) is like buying crypto "alt" coins because you didn't take the time to understand the whole thing at all. If you did you would just buy all-time greats in practically 1 of 1s like Polamalu, bitcoin, real estate, etc. Buy it's mostly just gambling monkeys in everything 😂
can you share a download link to that AWESOME SPREADSHEET PLEASE?!?!
It's funny how back 15 to 20 years yes quarterbacks where the top but man we used to be in making money or wide receivers and running backs defensive players like Ray Lewis but the whole collecting market and the companies that feed these hobbies feed you the quarter back and them only for big dollars
I am quite content with my TB12 collection!
Baseball cards and Football cards are like polar opposites. Baseball has more investment potential in the position players over the pitchers, Football has more investment value in QB's over all other positions. Crazy
Im 41, i like to buy the cards i wish i had when i was a kid, lifetime favorites! Thats what its about
This is why I got out of the football market in 2021. It is way too volatile and QB centric
Ask anyone chasing all the hot rookies what they think of all the hot rookies from 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago and you will either get a meh or who answer with rare exceptions. That is where the guy you are chasing will be over time too and you are absolutely over paying for him if you hold him longer than a year.
Yes! Yes! Thank you!!! Stop buying hopefuls. I’ve been buying up Adrian Peterson, Gronk rookies, Larry Fitzgeralds. That’s where the investments are
The way cards are valued is flawed. Values will go to nothing if price is always from last comp. I buy a lot of doubles but I usually pay more for the first one and will wait till a seller needs to move something or sneak an auction steal for the other. That shouldn't make the value of the first card decrease just because I bought another one alike. And if an auction goes by with no eyes on it and it gets a low buying bid, the card and all others alike shouldn't loose value just because the seller honors the sell of that card even though he knows it's worth more and takes a loss.
The Bedard Young Guns is heading in that direction too. At ludicrous speed 🚀, it's at a gem rate >50% already
Whoever was paying $5k for his YG PSA 10 needs a lobotomy.
private companies and investors are paying these crazy comps on cards to try and justify the insane price of wax they are breaking
Look at this career numbers from two wide receivers that played at the same exact time:
Player A: 218 games, 982 catches, 15292 yards, 157 total touchdowns
Player B: 219 games, 1078 catches, 15934 yards, 156 total touchdowns
Those numbers are so close that you cannot slide a chewing gum wrapper in between them. Now consider that about 40-45% of plays in the NFL during this time are running plays, and Player A is known for taking running downs off while Player B is known to be an exceptional blocker. Player A is Randy Moss. Player B is Terrell Owens. One blocked and the other didn’t. That’s it.
And what are you trying to prove, is ownes prices not on par with moss, I'd assume no . Might wanna add that context next time
Great breakdown
The problem with football cards is its only a U.S.A. market where basketball and baseball cards are more world wide...bigger market
Buying or investing in card at its peak or when the player is hot is when the return is less. UNLESS it’s an extremely rare saught after card .
I'd love to see you do this with basketball too!]
Stafford not a homer pick, should be higher.
💯 minus theJared Goff statement 😂
Total homer pick for me 😅😅
Thx for watching
all the great players and rookies i hoarded in the 1980s sell for 1 dollar on ebay if the seller lucky
Remember when everyone was betting on mac jones back in 2021.....
Yeah, hit it right on the head. Thank you.
is bro trying to scare all the buyers away lol , surprised they let him out this out ahahhahahh
Interesting in that in baseball, pitchers are the single player that can have the most impact on a game. Yet baseball card collectors typically shy away rather than place the entire spotlight and bankroll on them
Should have warned your buddy his Ridder investments had a 100 percent fail rate 😅🤣
This is one of the reasons why I believe basketball cards are a better risk. There is one additional factor unique to football that you don’t have w BB. In FB, if a player (especially a QB) has a bad game, the talking heads have an entire week to trash and critique that player. In BB, if a star player has a bad game, 24-48 hours later, he can redeem himself and the bad game is quickly forgotten. In FB, one bad performance triggers a week of scrutiny and added focus and pressure for the following week’s game. In BB, a player can play 3-4 games in one week. It’s also a more international sport. You will have an easier time getting a collector with deep pockets in China, Japan or Europe pay top dollar for a sought after Luka or Giannis rookie than a Lamar or Burrow rookie. Outside the US, American Football does not resonate with sports fans like BB does. And of course, in football - as you are highlighting - one position dominates. In BB, you can invest in a center (Jokic), a forward (Durant) or a guard (Curry) and have equal chance of the card increasing in value if that player does good things on the court. If the Minnesota Vikings win the SB, Justin Jefferson will likely receive far less love in the card world than whoever the QB is (which, I agree, doesn’t make much sense, but is what it is). Going to be hard to deter collectors to pay more attention to non-QB’s as far as NFL cards go
I say collect what you like me personally I like going for rainbows on lesser known players usually Dallas cowboys rookies like Demarvion Overshown which is my current project. It’s relatively inexpensive compared to trying that with someone like Anthony Richardson. I also don’t buy sealed product often there’s no hobby shop close to me so I’m limited to retail which is usually a big waste of money for me. I can take that money and buy several cards I’m actually looking for. People don’t think about the average career in the NFL is less than 3 years. That average doesn’t exempt quarterbacks that’s league wide average. With that being said short term flipping the hot prospect at QB isn’t a bad deal if you can get the card cheap grade and flip before the NFL decides they aren’t good enough then it’s on to the next guy. Speaking of which I got a bunch of Pickett cards I’m stuck with because well we all know what happened with that guy. Hype train nose dive.
I just made this exact video last night!! 🤷♂️
Great minds... 🤝
No Burrow mention at all?
No
can never fail if you collect it and don't sell for cheap to pay rent lolololol
As a collector of defenders and linemen....ssssshhhh 🤫
What about it being the offseason for football though
Sports cards really aren’t long term investments. The only way to make money in this hobby is to play the hype and flip cards at the right time, or buy raw and grade to add some value
Everyone should be selling every thing and buy gold and silver.
It's no longer a hobby or about collecting. The game has changed and you gotta look at sports cards now like you'd look at stocks that are fueled by sports betting gambling. It's all about the money now across the board.
Thats why people keep getting burned. Its not the stock market or any legit investment. Basically a high risk gamble where most lose a fortune. No thanks ill keep collecting so I never stop having fun. I don't have to stress over the money aspect.
After what happened to the 2021 class of QB Not T-Law. Everyone is on the drop
I love buying dope defense cards i got a strahan 1/10 nat treasures all decade autograph for 39$ on ebay i love the card kaayvon rc auto dirt cheap osi umenyora auto dirt cheap its awesome
Add pickett to the trash bin
Sam howell is going to the seahawks and with there reserves he should Excell
Receivers...lol.. I'm typing with one eye open..
@@R.D.oldringassuming he beats out Geno
All this analysis says sell the hype and not invest into the long term, even if it’s just a season or less, a lot of the cards flew but came down, just hold nothing unless it’s for PC
Legends like Unitas, Brown ,Payton, Montana, Rice, Sanders ,Smith, Moss are all underpriced. Everyone overpaying on these hot prospects who won’t ever come close to being in the same conversation as these legends . Brady pump the last few years was reasonable and Mahomes is getting there and I am okay with him being added to the Goats conversation. Wish more respect was given to these older HOFers .
Exactly. A lot of those guys' cards have gotten back down within 10-15% above what they were going for in 2019. Some a bit higher but, with certain cards, it's absolutely worth it when you see how much money people burn on these shiny new QB's.
Even brady and mohomes amongst other greats got way overpriced. Highly doubt people in the future will pay anywhere near today's values they're just cards
QBs are also coming off an historically great period/ ‘class’. Over the next 8-10 years, the number of 1st (mayyyybe 2nd) ballot QBs who’ll make the Hall of Fame will make that era look golden and today’s QBs/era seem pedestrian.
Go back to 2019 - just 5 years ago. On yards alone, the top 10 passing yard QBs who were still playing : Brady, Brees, Roethlisberger, Rivers, Ryan, Rodgers, Eli, Stafford, Wilson/Flacco.
Now, in 2024, the current active Top 10 : Rodgers (HOF lock), Stafford (a 2nd or 3rd balloter IMO), Flacco, Wilson, Cousins, Carr, Dalton, Tannehill (Six great players, but would you say with absolute certainty that any singular player here makes the Hall ?), Goff & Prescott (with Mahomes at #11, then Allen is #12, but only 22,000 yards so from there down, any QB is a long way from being statistically close enough to be considered good enough to be a possible HOFer and the bump their cards would get from it.)
The title should say 99%+ of all sport card investments fail considering they're not much of an investment anyway. It really misled people the last four years when so many starting running with the idea that cards are investments its hard not laugh. Its nothing more then a guess of what's going to go up. Yea some went up a lot the last few years which is great if you sold and got paid. They're technically worth nothing. They go up quickly in periods of hype then plummet. Nearly all expensive cards bought the last 5 years have nowhere to go but down for along time. We're already seeing that now its not surprising.
bro just crashed the market another 10%
This content info is not surprising at all, still does not eliminate the urge to gamble on somebody and play the game of hot potato!