Weekly Market Report - February 1, 2006

A Fresh Look at Sports Collectibles News

As part of the NFL Experience at Super Bowl XL, Todd McFarlane will be on hand signing autographs and visitors to the McFarlane booth will be able to purchase the exclusive Barry Sanders Super Bowl XL Figure. Each day McFarlane will give away a signed Sanders figure. For those of us not lucky enough to be in Detroit this week, McFarlane will be giving away five signed figures in an online give away.

The release mentions that "VISA is the official credit card of the NFL and will be the only card accepted throughout the NFL Experience, including our booth." That is stupid. Just because VISA sponsors it you can't use Master Card? If anything, that's just turning customers away. You can use a Master Card on NFL tickets, official merchandise, and pretty much anything else NFL. Just set up a bunch of those VISA booths where you give away "free" Super Bowl XL beach towels in exchange for selling them your soul and be done with it. Stop making the NFL Experience a crappy experience for those who don't have VISA cards. [read release]

McFarlane continues their "Collector's Edition" figures by offering New York Yankees legends Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle this summer. The first "Collector's Edition" Sports Picks figure was last year's Barry Bonds figure. The figures are packaged in a "window-box" format that is displayable without even opening the box.

First off, thank you McFarlane for the window-boxes. One of the things I dislike most about McFarlane's is that they are better displayed opened. Problem solved. Second, how cool is the "sepia tone" Babe Ruth figure? The figure actually looks like a 1920's newspaper photo! Ingenious! [read release]

I've mentioned Sidney Crosby more than any other athlete on this weekly update. Don't believe me? Check the archive. So what's new with my boy Sidney? Upper Deck has decided to produce a box set...of just Crosby. Details aren't set in stone yet, but the set will likely include around 20 cards, include randomly inserted autograph cards, and be priced around the $20 mark.

OK. I know Sidney is UD's boy and the poster child of the "new" NHL, but I think we are taking this a bit too far. Alexander Ovechkin deserves to win the rookie of the year over Crosby and there are several others (Dion Phaneuf, Petr Prucha , Henrik Lundqvist) who could also make a case for the award ahead of Crosby. Yes, Crosby is going to be great, but much like the NBA Draft Class of 2003 had Dwayne Wade and Carmello Anthony competing with Lebron James for attention, there are many other talents from this extra large NHL draft class that deserve mentioning besides sir Sidney. [read article]