Opening a pack of NFL cards meant dealing with Panini for a very long time. For more than ten years, Panini’s swooping logo, Prizm parallels, and Mosaic inserts essentially became synonymous with football cards. March 31, 2026, marked the end of that era. Additionally, the hobby hasn’t fully settled into its future.
On April 1, Fanatics formally took over the exclusive NFL trading card rights under the Topps brand, which it had purchased for $500 million in 2022. Fanatics Live, NFLShop.com, and a few hobby stores carried the first product, the 2025 Topps Chrome Football, which was released on April 15. It’s a momentous occasion, perhaps the biggest in the trading card business in years, but it’s still unclear if this is good news for regular collectors.
The standout feature of Fanatics’ first set is jersey patches that are taken straight from actual game moments. The Rookie PREM1ERE Patch Autograph cards are one-of-a-kind autographed cards featuring patches worn by first-year NFL players during their actual first regular-season game, including TreVeyon Henderson, Cam Ward, Cam Skattebo, and Jaxson Dart. In contrast, the NFL Honors Gold Shield Autograph cards feature gold shields from the collars of the jerseys of the following 2024 AP award winners: Saquon Barkley, Josh Allen, Pat Surtain II, Jayden Daniels, and Jared Verse. Serious collectors have always desired this kind of narrative detail. It’s another matter entirely whether it results in long-term value.
The hobby community believes that Fanatics’ strategy of consolidation—locking up MLB in 2022, the NBA soon after, and now the NFL—represents something worth closely observing. Panini has already filed a federal court antitrust lawsuit, claiming that Fanatics created a monopoly encompassing several leagues and player associations. Fans filed a countersuit. Every new product announcement is accompanied by the ongoing, unresolved litigation. It’s difficult to ignore the fact that the hype surrounding new rookie patches and gold shields hardly mentions the legal battle.
Fanatics Collectibles CEO Mike Mahan called the launch “a spectacular moment for the industry and for collectors.” Perhaps predictably, that framing is optimistic. With one company holding the official trading card rights for the three largest professional sports leagues in America, Fanatics has created something truly unprecedented. Better products and more innovation could result from that. Alternatively, it might result in a gradual decrease in collector choice due to less competition. Both scenarios are conceivable, and as of right now, it’s unclear which way this will go.
At the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, which takes place from April 23–25, the company is organizing live-breaking events and pack giveaways, including a Collector Celebration Day on the field at Acrisure Stadium. By physically bringing collectors into the room, it seems like a clever move that restores the hobby’s sense of community as opposed to what is increasingly happening through break streams and secondary markets.
Beneath the press releases and launches, there’s a subtle tension as this shift takes place. Cards from a licensee whose future in football cards has not yet been tested on a large scale are currently in the possession of collectors who built collections around Panini products. Since 2016, Topps has not produced official NFL cards. Since then, a lot has changed, including the hobby, card values, and purchasing and selling practices. Fanatics is entering a market that is very different from what Topps left behind. Perhaps the most crucial question that no one has yet raised loudly enough is whether the company actually recognizes that difference.
