[Diakonos]

Thanks for the article. I think that on top of the theme of doing away with "player exclusives" they should do away with "league exclusives" too. I think all card manufacturing companies should have the ability to design cards with mlb, nba, nfl..etc uniforms. It all used to be about the design of the card... now its more about licensed products. If you're a college collector you buy Upper Deck, if you're an NFL collector you buy Panini...etc Brands and Sets deteriorate as they've had to adapt to monopolizing power of league license exclusives.

Card companies have figured out how to be more lazy. Buy exclusive rights for NFL licensed products then just design some crap card and then people will buy it because a particular player, like andrew luck, is wearing an NFL uniform vs a College Uniform.

Back in the good ole days it was all about the artistry work in the design of the card. IMHO, we are seeing fewer and fewer nicely designed sets like Allen & Ginter, Heritage, National Treasures...etc.

I used to buy Leaf products back in the day. Now that they don't have a major league license in the sports I collect I haven't bought from them at all.