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The sports memorabilia world was set on fire when the world shut down in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Collectors rediscovered their old collections and, just as importantly, fell back in love with the hobby.
Empty racks at Target were the new order of the day, while eBay and other online marketplaces simply could not keep up with the demand. Virtually every product was a sellout, and new records were being set for major auctions.
In the years since the world reopened, discretionary money has returned to sports and entertainment events. While the sports memorabilia world has experienced a drop-off in popularity, it is still in a position of strength, the likes of which have not been seen since the Golden Era of the hobby in the early 1990s.
Fresh Faces
A big part of sports memorabilia’s popularity is a crop of generational superstars who have emerged in the last twelve months and continue to draw curious collectors and investors to their sports.
As we discussed before the 2023–24 hockey and basketball seasons started, three names led the charge as predicted game-changing superstars. Two of them had extremely successful freshman campaigns, but beyond those lies a third who is pioneering sport and transcending the court like no one in modern memory.
Caitlin Clark
Women’s sports is exploding in popularity, with Caitlin Clark leading the charge.
An NCAA basketball sensation, Clark established a new standard for career points for both men and women in 2024 and, in the process, made herself one of the most in-demand athletes, period. The Nike endorsement deal sealed things for Clark, who stood on the same ground as other female athlete idols like Serena Williams before even playing a professional basketball game.
Clark, not surprisingly, was the number one pick in the WNBA Draft. Now, with the Indiana Fever, Clark is the establishing rookie in the league, selling out arenas across the league. She’s already joined the thirty-point club, a mark only three other players have achieved. She’s also the fastest WNBA rookie to reach one hundred points and fifty assists.
If there’s any indicator of how in-demand Clark is, consider that an ungraded Clark Bowman Now card sold for nearly $16,000 at a May 2024 Goldin auction.
Connor Bedard
Before the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, scouts tabbed Bedard as a generational talent. While his Chicago Blackhawks had yet another rough season, the budding superstar shined, tallying twenty-two goals and sixty-one points in sixty-eight games. This feat followed an impressive junior career that saw the Canadian go first overall.
Hockey collectors went after any cardboard of Bedard with the same enthusiasm that Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid carried in their freshman seasons. Like those generational talents, Bedard had a variety of cards on the market, thanks to Upper Deck’s Team Canada products, before he stepped onto the ice for the first time in October 2023.
These early cards were the appetizer for the main course: the 2023-24 Upper Deck Series Two product everyone wanted, as Bedard’s Young Guns rookie card lay in these boxes. Even now, two months after its release, the Bedard card routinely sells in the high three figures raw. A bounty is out for his 1/1 Gold Outburst parallel, with Dave and Adam’s, one of North America’s largest trading card shops, offering $1 million to whoever unearths the rarity.
Victor Wembanyama
Like Clark, Wembanyama popped up in Fanatics products before his official rookie cards emerged in Panini products. The tease was enough to severely whet the appetites of collectors and spark a madhouse once those coveted RCs and rare parallels hit the market.
Like Bedard, Wemby was a first-overall pick of a team with a pedigree of success—the San Antonio Spurs—after a successful run in the EuroLeague. Wembanyama poured in more than twenty-one points per game, a feat few rookies can even dream of achieving.
Wemby’s Panini cards are now the fodder for box and case breakers, with boxes disappearing as soon as they go out on shelves.
These three incredible athletes are driving their respective sports, but they aren’t alone in amplifying a new generation of sports talents. In baseball, Gunnar Henderson and Corbin Carroll are the names to emerge from a jam-packed 2023 rookie crop, while C.J. Stroud leads the way in the NFL.
Hot Materials
While sports cards are still the entry point for most collectors, and many stay there, the game-used sports memorabilia market continues to attract big-game hunters, with new records set regularly.
Unlike the sports card market, the biggest demand is in retired players. Long-departed players like Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth are among the most popular players in baseball, while other established stars like Ronald Acuña Jr. have their fair share of pursuits.
The biggest moneymaker in game-used comes from basketball: Michael Jordan. Still regarded as the top player in league history by most pundits and possibly the greatest athlete in North American athletics, Jordan has maintained his aura despite challengers to his throne like LeBron James. If you were lucky enough to get a Jordan jersey or other game gear, In May 2023, a Jordan game-used Team USA jersey sold for more than $3 million.
These vintage items are becoming increasingly hard to come by as collectors lock down their collections.
Breaking News in the Sports Hobby
What sets sports memorabilia apart from many other collectibles is how quickly market-rocking news breaks, especially in today’s hobby world. Licenses, mergers, and rebirths have made headlines in recent years, and these stories aren’t likely to fade away any time soon.
• After acquiring Topps during the pandemic, Fanatics went on a tear, establishing contracts with MLB, the NBA, the NFL, and WWE, which will take effect once their contracts expire with Panini. The latter two entities attempted to end their contracts with Panini early, but the agreements were stayed.
• The PGA gained a license with Upper Deck, marking the return of golf cards to the hobby.
• Starting Lineup and McFarlane Toys returned to the figurine world. Rather than entering the retail space, as they did in the past, both companies are selling their products online.
• eBay, PSA, and Goldin made headlines earlier this year with partnerships and owner-swapping.
• CCG purchased leading autograph authenticator JSA.
The Future of Sports Collectibles
Many collectors wonder how long the hobby’s new golden era can last. As noted above, the market has started to cool since the COVID-19-induced hot period, but it’s far from the point of darkness that we saw in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Part of what will sustain the hobby is a rotating door of new hot prospects to keep collector interest high. Without jinxing the markets, labor disputes and steroid use—two factors that turned many off sports memorabilia not long ago—seem to be a thing of the past.
If the respective sports can stay clean and maintain civility between leagues, players, and incoming names, while continuing to break new ground in their chosen pursuits, then the corresponding hobbies will sustain a steady flow of listings and sales.
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Jon Waldman is a Winnipeg-based writer. He has written for Beckett, Go GTS, Canadian Sports Collector, and several other hobby outlets over his two decades in the hobby. His experience also includes two books on sports cards and memorabilia. Connect with Jon on Twitter at @jonwaldman.
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