AFL Trading Cards: Third Time’s a Charm
Matthew Pickut
Monday June 7, 2004
Specifically, Arena Football League cards have been a dream of mine for a while now. Unfortunately, those dreams have been dashed before. First came Pacific—I actually saw someone taking pictures for the cards, but no cards were made. Then came Donruss—I talked to some enthusiastic people from their headquarters, but no cards were made. Now Upper Deck has signed on and, after talking to Don Williams, PR director for Upper Deck, I have to say I actually believe that we may see some cards in mass production by next year.
According to Williams, Upper Deck will be providing products at this year’s playoff games, but even more interesting is the work that Upper Deck is already doing in preparation for next year. The company will be collecting game used items, such as jerseys, to include as premiums in next year’s set. In the past, Upper Deck has included game used equipment in many of their other sets. Upper Deck has also already put together a national television commercial advertising next year’s card set, as well as securing signage on dasher boards across the league. What really shows the company’s commitment, however, is the fact that they pulled the spot together in four days in order to get it ready for the first round of playoffs.
While prototypes featuring announcers have been created for display on NBC, the real work of determining what form the set will take is yet to be done. Issues like the number of cards in the set, the number of cards per team, and who will be featured in the set are yet to be determined. One interesting aspect of the set is that it is likely to contain former AFL players who are now in the NFL, which will provide a chance to catch up on the rookie cards that never were.
Of particular interest to AFL fans will be the selection of players chosen for the set. Unlike the outdoor game where linemen are often not well known, many of the AFL’s linemen are fan favorites and league substitution rules make sure more players see action each game. That will make it more difficult select the 10 to 14 players per team likely to be included in the set. The difficulty Upper Deck will be tasked with will be creating a card set with a selection somewhere between their basketball and outdoor football sets while making sure fans get all the cards of players they want.
Upper Deck’s past history insures that the cards will be well made, but without taking into account the unique nature of the AFL fan a successful product in not ensured. Part of what makes AFL players unique and great are the stories of the players that cannot be told by merely listing statistics. While Upper Deck will need to find a way to make the feel of the AFL carry over to their cards by telling the player’s stories, they will also need to provide the classic array of stats that appeal to hard core sports fans. One wonders if that much information might overwhelm the cards or necessitate an obnoxiously small font size. A quality set of subsets and inserts would go a long way toward filling the need, but might also make the set cumbersome and overly large.
In my opinion, Upper Deck has done enough to convince me that AFL sports cards will be a reality next year. For me, it will not be enough for Upper Deck to create an “NFL lite” type of set. What I’m waiting to see is how Upper Deck will use its considerable resources to create a unique set for what is the most unique of leagues.
Matthew Pickut is a pastor in northern Indiana and a long time AFL fan. He also writes for his own website: The Brown Paper Blog. He graduated from Taylor University in Upland Indiana (class of `96) with degrees in Biblical Literature and Sociology as well as a healthy respect for the medicinal properties of coffee.
