The WNBPA’s timing in renewing its buying and selling card license with Panini America because it negotiates with the WNBA for a brand new collective bargaining settlement is essentially coincidental, however the particulars of the deal present how league gamers have elevated their sway lately.
Financial phrases of the multiyear tie-up weren’t disclosed, although the events described it as probably the most profitable licensing settlement in girls’s sports activities historical past. That’s no shock. According to sources acquainted with the matter, WNBA buying and selling card gross sales have grown greater than 100 occasions since Panini took over the enterprise in 2019, reaching into the mid-eight figures (between $10 million and $100 million) yearly.
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Maximizing group licensing rights was one of many priorities gamers put in entrance of Terri Carmichael Jackson when she took over as WNBPA govt director in 2016. The union reclaimed its group licensing rights from the league in 2018 and in 2021 joined OneTeam Partners, which represents athletes together with the MLBPA, MLSPA, NFLPA and NWSLPA. OneTeam facilitated the newest renewal as properly.
Card licensing offers typically function on a royalty-based construction with yearly minimal ensures. The NFLPA and MLBPA earn between $50 million and $100 million in royalties every year, in response to current tax filings. Leagues signal their very own IP licensing offers with card makers; the WNBA’s cope with Panini shouldn’t be but up for renewal.
Licensing offers characterize one of many largest sources of earnings for unions, alongside participant dues. Within the class, buying and selling playing cards and video video games usually characterize a few of the most beneficial rights. That cash can then be used as a backstop, as PAs stare down potential work stoppages in negotiations with leagues. In 2021, then-NFLPA govt director DeMaurice Smith informed The Wall Street Journal that the explanation OneTeam was arrange was “the leverage that it was designed to give our unions and our other membership unions.” WNBA CBA conversations proceed forward of a Nov. 30 deadline.
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WNBA card gross sales benefited from each exploding curiosity within the league and the growth of the broader card business lately.
“The growth of that business … has been nothing short of awesome from a quality of product standpoint and of course from a dollar standpoint,” OneTeam Partners head of shopper merchandise licensing Ricky Medina stated in an interview. “We’re still tip-of-the-iceberg in terms of the size of the business relative to how big it can get.”
Fanatics Collectibles’ entrance additional elevated the demand for licensing rights. Fanatics-owned Topps NBA playing cards debuted this yr, with NFL playing cards coming in 2026. Recent years have seen what The Washington Post described as “an all-out corporate war” between Fanatics and Panini.
Panini has locked down unique autograph offers with current rookie stars Paige Bueckers, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese because it deepened its funding in girls’s sports activities playing cards. In July, a singular Clark autographed card offered for a class report $660,000. Panini head of promoting Jason Howarth stated the WNBA card enterprise has grown simply as quick with conventional card collectors as with these new to the passion, drawn in by the league’s stars.
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The new deal consists of expanded commitments from Panini towards participant advertising and marketing and occasion sponsorships.
—Daniel Libit and Eben Novy-Williams contributed reporting
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