Michael Rubin and Mike Mahan on Growing The Hobby

Michael Rubin joins Sports Cards Nonsense for an extensive conversation about Fanatics Collectibles, Topps, the future of sports cards, rising card prices, breakers, hobby shops, global expansion, and the changing collector experience.

Recorded at The National, this interview examines Fanatics’ claim that it may have multiplied the size of the hobby, the company’s plans to grow collecting internationally, the success of its London store, and how athletes such as Lewis Hamilton, Tom Brady and LeBron James are helping introduce sports fans to trading cards.

The conversation also covers Fanatics Fest, Topps’ direct hobby-shop accounts, entry-level versus premium-product pricing, sports-card supply and demand, celebrity collectors, non-sports cards, FIFA and the global future of the hobby.

Topics:

Fanatics Fest versus The National Fanatics’ growth in sports cards Global expansion and the London store Lewis Hamilton and celebrity collectors How Fanatics measures success Fanatics’ celebrity-authenticity rule Is the sports-card boom sustainable? Breakers versus hobby shops Card-shop pricing and allocations Why sports-card prices rise Topps direct accounts and distribution Is Fanatics making too much product? What Fanatics still needs to fix

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