Major League Baseball is reportedly breaking up with its longtime trading card partner Topps, which has been releasing the player memorabilia since 1952.
The league will instead contract exclusively with sports merchandising company Fanatics beginning in 2026, the Action Network reported Thursday. Its players’ union, the Major League Baseball Players Association, will also begin an exclusive licensing agreement with Fanatics in 2023.
Although the two deals’ terms were not immediately publicized, both the league and the union will have a financial stake in the company, which was formed specifically to produce trading cards.
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The licensing deals were reported days after plans were announced to take the 80-year-old Topps public at a $1.3 billion valuation.
Fanatics, which sells sportswear and equipment and seeks to enter the sports betting market, was recently valued at $18 billion.
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The MLB’s current deal with Topps, which was renewed in 2018, expires in 2025.
For the Players Association, the Topps deal was its most lucrative, paying the union $20.4 million last year, according to Action Network.
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Tags: News, MLB, Major League Baseball, Baseball, Sports
Original Author: Jeremy Beaman
Original Location: MLB to end decadeslong contract with Topps trading cards