The Hobby Just Got Rewritten
Panini used to be the king of modern football and basketball. Topps had baseball on lockdown. That’s how it was. But thanks to Fanatics’ licensing land grab, everything’s shifting—fast.
In short: Fanatics is now the puppet master behind the three biggest sports licenses. That means:
- Topps (owned by Fanatics) holds the exclusive MLB license
- Fanatics takes over the NBA and NFL licenses from Panini starting 2026
- Panini is basically in hobby purgatory—still printing cards, but not for long
This isn’t just brand drama. It’s a complete reset of how collectors think about wax, rookies, and resale.
Which Brand Wins by Sport?
Baseball: Topps Forever
Topps runs baseball. Always has. Flagship, Heritage, Chrome, Stadium Club—every product line has long-term collector loyalty and decades of resale history. Panini baseball? It exists, but without logos, it’s basically a side quest. No one’s chasing a Donruss Rated Rookie of Elly De La Cruz over a Topps Chrome auto.
Basketball: Panini (for now)
If you’re ripping 2023-24 or 2024-25 boxes, it’s still Panini’s world—Prizm, Optic, Select, and National Treasures are the grail lines. But with Fanatics taking over the license in 2026, every current Panini release has a ticking clock on relevance.
Think about it this way: will a 2023 Prizm Wemby RC hold long-term value if collectors shift all attention to Topps Chrome NBA rookies starting in 2026? Maybe. Maybe not. That’s the game now.
Football: Panini’s Swan Song
Panini owns NFL cards for the moment—Optic, Donruss, Mosaic, Prizm, Contenders. But again, Fanatics has secured exclusive NFL rights too. When the next crop of rookie QBs start appearing in Topps-branded NFL cards, Panini football will go the way of Score retail blasters—plentiful and ignored.
Soccer & Niche Sports: It’s a Toss-Up
Panini’s done well with soccer (especially Prizm World Cup and Immaculate), but Topps isn’t sitting out either. In fact, some of the best early Jude Bellingham and Gavi rookies came in Topps Chrome UEFA. As licensing gets more complicated, expect Fanatics to consolidate these too.
Print Runs, Inserts & Scarcity
Panini is notorious for bloat. You’ll find 20+ parallel versions of a single base rookie in products like Prizm or Select. Tie-dye, dragon scale, shimmer, snakeskin, disco, scope—you name it. For flippers, that’s good short-term fuel. For long-term collectors, it’s chaos.
Topps has parallels too, especially in Chrome and Sapphire, but there’s often more structure. Flagship base sets remain relatively accessible for set builders, and key color parallels (Gold /50, Orange /25, Red /5) have established resale tiers over time.
Serial-numbered Panini RC autos often spike on hype. But Topps cards tend to hold steadier through the off-season.
Panini’s Quality Control Problem
It wouldn’t be a fair fight without mentioning Panini’s biggest Achilles’ heel: infamously bad QC. Off-center cards, surface dimples, scratched foils, and print lines have been plaguing everything from base Prizm to National Treasures RPAs.
I can’t find the video but there was a gentleman who opened an entire box of (I believe) 2018 Prizm football and every single card had one player on the front and another on the back. It was ridiculous.
Collectors have posted entire case breaks with zero gradable cards. Meanwhile, Topps—while not perfect—has generally held the edge when it comes to print consistency and condition straight out of the pack. It’s one reason PSA 10 rates are often noticeably higher for Topps Chrome rookies compared to Panini Prizm.
In a hobby where grading can 3x your resale, that stuff matters. A lot.
What This Means for Resale
Want to flip? Stick with Panini basketball and football rookies while the market still respects them. You can still make margin—especially if you’re moving singles.
Want long-term value? Topps baseball is your safe zone. PSA 10 base rookies of stars like Acuña, J-Rod, and Soto move consistently—and Chrome autos will never go out of style.
What about Panini cards after the license shift? Expect softening comps. Collectors chasing continuity will follow the licenses, just like they did when Upper Deck lost NBA rights in 2009.
Fanatics: The Real Power Player
Fanatics isn’t just repping the leagues—it owns Topps. That means all future NBA and NFL cards will carry the Topps brand again. That’s huge for hobby continuity.
Expect:
- Topps Chrome NBA rookies (finally)
- Flagship NFL sets with licensed logos
- Massive Fanatics-exclusive product drops and distribution control
That’s either exciting or terrifying depending on how you feel about monopolies.
So… Who’s Winning?
Right now, it’s transitional.
- Topps wins baseball. No contest.
- Panini still holds basketball and football… but only until 2026.
- Fanatics wins the long game. They’re about to control everything.
Topps is about to become the brand across all major sports again. That means vintage Topps will see renewed attention, and modern Topps Chrome cards across leagues will likely become the new chase standard.
Final Thoughts
This isn’t just brand drama—it’s strategic information for every collector and flipper. Knowing who holds the license, where collectors are shifting, and how print runs are evolving means you get ahead of the curve, not caught holding the wrong wax.
In 2025, “Panini vs. Topps” is really “Panini’s last run vs. Topps’ future monopoly.” You can still win with both. Just know where the puck is headed—not where it’s been.
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