Keep the amount of products minimal, and minimize the amount of sticker autos in products. Less of a product means the product will not be watered down. Also make more affordable products for kids to enjoy to start them early and to keep them collecting to lead to future generations enjoying the hobby.

One thing that could help the hobby is to find ways to reduce the price of wax, that would really help out the children who don’t have much money. Also, I miss the huge 1000+ card basesets when UD made baseball cards. Sets this big really are fun to collect, and they allow players who normally aren’t on a card, have one.

I think unclaimed redemption cards should be placed in a vault until its claim insert is pulled. It’s still exciting when you open a pack, box or case from 5 years ago and find a redemption gem but only become upset when it has expired. The chase never stops.

Through redemption, have the option for a personalized message along with an autograph from the athelete. Something simple like ‘happy birthday (insert name)’

Less redemptions and more on the card autographs.

Put more effort into QC of the JSY swatches going into cards, there have been too many obvious cases with someone else’s Jersey piece in them (either wrong colors for team(s)they played with or colors that the team hasn’t used in years on a new players card. As IMHO that devalues all EU/GU as one really has no idea if that player even wore it(which them having worn it is part of the reason for wanting them to begin with).

The industry needs to find more ways to engage young kids to get involved with collecting. Don’t get me wrong, I *love* some of the pricier items you have! But… Maybe have some *really* inexepensive packs that kids can afford with their allowance. Or, maybe UD can get involved in the “Reading is Cool” or “Mathleagues” or any of the other school-sponsored academic contests/programs. If you provide packs/tins/etc to the schools as prizes or incentives, that might spark more kids to start collecting.

I have three ideas

1. Make 3D printed 1 of 1 cards just because they are cool and that it would show case 3D printing at its infancy, so that future generations can look back on it as a historical marker.

2. Create a system to where memrobilea cards vins can be registered to a person and when they pass It gets handed down and re retested to the one who it gets handed down to and so forth. Thus creating a system in were lineage of a card can be seen by future generations.

3. Including more strands of rising technology in the cards such as piezoelectric materials, smart materials, genetic artwork(art that was made with dyed Dna Strands) , 3D Printing and robotics.

If there was a way to make local card shops more appealing (versus the internet), I think that would be an improvement. Maybe buyer incentives (Specially marked packs or special subsets that are only available at local card shops?) would be key. Shops that order Upper Deck products could get some of the lcs-only packs, maybe with throwback rookies or certain chase cards, and the appeal of those cards might bring the customers toward the stores. It’s a thought. Meeting up with people at a card shop seems like a great idea, it’s just how to get there when doing everything online is so simple, that can be difficult.

I would suggest giving collectors an opportunity to meet an Upper Deck Exclusive athlete at a future UD sponsored event. It would be a truly memorable experience to sit at the table and watch Jordan, LeBron, Tiger, Rory, or Gretzky sign a stack of cards to be placed in future products. Giving away autographed memoriablia is a great treat for collectors, but this would raise the bar in promotional giveaways, without having to be a huge expense for the company. The opportunity could come through either a random redemption card placed into a product, or some sort of code entry which leads to a drawing to determine a winner. Winner could be given a voucher for airfare, hotel accomodation, and additional expenses for a two day trip and this opportunity. I am uncertain if these types of autograph sessions occur at UD facilities regularly, but if they do, this would be a phenomenal experience to have a shot at for any collector

What I would love to see and I think would help the hockey card portion of the industry is to have cards available for sale at the arena’s. Kids could then buy packs and take the cards right down to where the players come out and get autographs. Engages the industry, the players and the fans alike.

More online purchase power for people with no local hobby shops

Make sure that there is at least one or 2 sets a year per sport that is price point directed towards the younger audience and set/team collectors.

Have conventions in major markets(St. Paul/Minnepolis, Chicago, etc) where people can come and check out cards and possibly score some free ones.

Sell the cards at more locations. I have no hobby shop within 30 miles of me. I’d be purchasing many more if I didn’t have to drive so far 🙂

One thing, and in my opinion the main thing to keep collecting going is to never rid of lower price point product, such as Series One/Two hockey, the young guns set is great, and affordable by about everyone. As well as the other inserts, and checklists. Is great for kids, and adults alike. Always great to put the set together. The quality has always been maintained and I don’t ever expect anything less. Also; the obvious one here is quality not quantity, and thus far this year the quality of UD hockey has been absolutely outstanding. The checklist for Trilogy was great, the base was crisp and excellent design. Love the fact that time was taken with these, and not pushing out absurd amounts of low quality product at high-mid price points (like other companies with exclusive rights). Just to continue to go in the direction that you are going, and firmly believe the next generation will share the same love that I myself had as a child, and continued into adulthood. Series one is key in my opinion. Thanks for reading, and keep up the good work. Has been an excellent year for Upper Deck and look forward to many more to come.

Not everyone looks for the big hit, some of us still build sets. Make high quality base cards, and think about going back to issuing them in series. That keeps us busy all season.

I think having more events such as #NHCD would help promote/grow the hobby. I introduced several new collectors to the hobby over the last couple years just because of #NHCD.

Improve autograph cards checklists. I would rather have a product have one auto of a semistar/superstar as oppposed to 3 autos of fringe players who hold no value.

there needs to be a digital database for jersey and patch cards. As collectors, we want these cards but there are tons of fakes that hit the market. If there was a database to check and see what their card should look like. Helping protect the collectors would be a huge advancement in collecting.

I know this would be a long shot but it would really be cool if there was some kind of redemption where you could actually meet the player on the card specially if you lived in the area that the team is playing at. For example if your you get Pavel Datsyuk card to complete redemption to meet him at the Joe Louis Arena.

Collecting is such a great hobby which I share with my grandson everyday, when I was a kid we where able to get a pack of cards at your local coroner store but these days it is very rare. I have to drive a hour to find a card shop. Hockey cards are making a come back here in Canada but the cards need to me easy to get and not blow the bank, have a product that is cheap but has rare hits that are worth something you may have people buy in bulk in search of that card

The thing I enjoy most about opening packs/boxes are the suprises. Things like hot packs and hot boxes are extremely fun and appealing to me. I would suggest start adding in unannounced hits randomly In boxes and packs. Maybe advertise 2 autos and 1 relic per box and then add an additional auto or relic every 3 or 4 boxes. Because the price of cards are high, it will make the collector feel like they are getting more for their money.

Start a collector program with Cub Scouts to get them started in the hobby. Perhaps a pack of cards, a binder, and some information about collecting. Would be a great way to engage young new collectors into the hobby!

The thing that can help future generations is PRICE. They have to stay reasonable depending on the level and the name of the brand. For brands like OPC/MVP/Victory they have to stay around the $2 range for kids (and parents) to be collected. Base UD has to stay near $5 a pack because anything too higher than that will hurt it (just like it did here for S2). As for the higher brands like Art,BD,ICE,SPA,SPX, SPGU & The Cup: keep’em. Too much newish stuff will hurt. People like familiarity, and releases should be 4-6 weeks apart. That’s enough time to recoup funds from selling the previous brand in order to get funds together for the next. And above all else- NO REDEMPTIONS in any product! If it’s NOT live, don’t put it in the product. A kid (or an adult for that matter) can’t get too excited about a code in lieu of a real Auto/RC/Patch/jersey swatch like they can with the actual pull. Imagine a kid taking a redemption card to school to show it off. They’ll be made fun of. But if they take the actual pull to school, the kids will have something to gawk at, and maybe get them to buy a pack or 2 as a whim due to the excitement of it. And maybe a future collector will be born. That is the idea, right?

I think mine may parallel other ideas. No more exclusivity for one company over another. So many wonderful designs and sets get bypassed because of this. Hurting the hobby and ability to collect who you want and what you want. The key to a flourishing hobby is choice and quality selection. Something I love seeing upper Deck be a part of. The reality of losing great products such as Exquisite definitely hurts the hobby and this collector. Hopefully the summit saw the harm to the hobby this at times monopolistic industry can cause.

How about redemption cards with a live meet and greet with the player to have it signed in your presence.

I have always been a fan of autograph cards on the card. Many cards come with a sticker that has the autograph on it. It would be nice if those stickers could always be placed straight. I recently got a Jonathan Drouin auto and the sticker was crooked.

Mark

I had a lot of fun with baseball cards growing up and collecting the crash the game cards. Being more interactive kept my interest not only in the cards but what was actually happening in the sport I collected. Inserts that rewarded collectors when a guy had an assist, goal, shutout might be a fun way to be more interactive. Also, not necessarily having a product set for younger collectors, but different designs, brighter colors, that are more appealing to the younger collectors might be a good way to add some interest for a younger, new collector.

Great idea to improve cards… almost impossible since everything has been done in some way by someone. However, if Upper Deck could do a “great rookie cards” insert set like OPC did a few years ago – perhaps of only Upper Deck rookie cards (Jaromir Jagr, Sydney Crosby, etc) – that might be cool!

A affordable product that still has hits that kids will know.Also a mail in wrapper redemption where kids can collect the wrappers for a player they want,the more wrappers the better the prize. Swatch cards auto’s one of a kind. we need kids to carry on this hobby.

cheaper cards

My nephew is 8 and loves collecting cards. I think there should be some more lower priced blasters (less than $20). We are located in Canada and most blasters are at least $25 before taxes. Usually he goes to a store with me with $20 in his pocket and can’t really buy anything of substance.

I think a good way to make collecting fun, is trading card with people all over the world. Facebook is a really good way to meet collectors online and build a relationship with other people in the hobby. I know shows are fun, but when you live far away like here in Eel River Crossing, they can be pretty expensive. I am suggesting to maybe create a online trading day, and Upper Deck would be hosting the event. You guys know who are the guys with the good reputations. Hopefully the dealers could advertise in their there store and maybe this can become a regular thing. I am anxious to see the new upcoming products like ICE & Premier!!!

Was hoping someone would buy up all the the late 80s and 90s cards have them autographed and put back in packs. At least it would bring a little value back.

With upperdeck being such a great product, it would be great to see some more game used college product, in the basketball range, and maybe a super rare autographed version on the preciouse metal gems. Love your products. Keep up the good work

Develop more kid centric programs with actual kid friendly hockey cards. Cards that are very inexpensive for parents and geared towards the sub 12 year old crowd. Lots of primary colors. Have built in ability to play old time games with friends like flips and colors. Encourage these kids to feel them, handle them, trade them, throw them up against walls and on the floor, put them in the spokes of their bikes. Take away the autos, the relics, the need to keep them in pristine condition, keep that for 13+. Make it about the cards. Structure it so kids can actually buy them with their allowance and not feel like they are breaking the bank. And if after all that there still needs to be a chase element make it something kid cool, like kids only ride on a Zamboni, being able to attend a team practice, a call from a player or even a personalized tweet. Make it a Willy Wonka golden ticket type chase. Not every box or even every case should have it. Make them feel like these are their cards and they should go run and play with them, not worry about keeping the corners sharp.

my recommendation is more so for the expo redemptions – rather than a straight autograph for opening designated products, why not do a limited expo set with inserts – similar to when you used to release the McDonald’s sets in Canada – these sets had some amazing subsets over the years and I think collectors truly miss them – still include priority signings, and maybe also a limited edition young guns subset /10? These were AMAZING when you did this for crosby’s rookie year – the limited edition young guns /10 with the red foil maple leafs were fun to chase down. With a generational player like McDavid coming in next year, something like that would be awesome. So to summarize, packs for expo, similar to what you do at the national. Make the set McDonald’s – ish (but without the m logo) and include some cool subsets like the expo yg /10, as well as priority signings

I think all the licensing should be available to all the companies out there. You can still have exclusive player rights but I think it would be better for all the companies to be involed in the Cards so all cards can have the teams logos and names on the Cards. This is just my opinion.

I have lots of thoughts. One concept I’d like to develop is a way of mirroring the physical cards with digital. And maybe some special inserts that take advantage of social media, connecting players with not just an autograph but a shout out in twitter. Ect.

My suggestions for product longevity
Revisit Classic formats;
Gum in packs? Scratch off Name?
Eliminate the Rookie Redemptions.
Create Spectacular Redemptions instead, (Auto Pucks, Auto Jersey’s, trip/tickets to games – All Star, Stanley Finals, A Day with the Cup – Spend a day with a player & Cup,
There is alot more ideas, but limits!)

Start including Sponsers in these?
Time to get Beer, Automotive and Product Sponsers included with the products, get them to sell for you!

Do more promotions
Get the athletes out and about.

Every police/fire station, childrens hospitals would love some donations.

In closing, I Love FREE STUFF!
Especially Hockey!

Clearly meant to say AREN’T very inexpensive for parents

Make a specific national kids card day where hobby shops have giveaways and contests for kids and their parents who purchase cards. And reach out to show promoters as well as hobby shops to have promotions for kids.

Somehow someway, the kids need to be pulled back to the hobby like I was. I remember as a kid how much fun I had opening packs looking for Jordan cards. There’s too many stars in today’s game for these kids not to be collecting. Maybe send packs to the schools to give as prizes. Keep being awesome

I think by offering more exclusive items to the retail lines will help more people transition from a casual retail buyer to a more committed hobbyist.

How about a base set that the younger generation can collect. When you have $50 base sets, you buy it and you are not going to want them to touch it. Get them while they are young and things are affordable. DO saturate the market like what happened in the 90’s but make it affordable. Go back to 50 cent packs or $1 packs.

A good idea putting gum in packs lol when I was young I loved gum opee Chee put in packs

My idea would be to have more contests for the collectors, not the dealers.

Create Wal-Mart (4500 U.S. stores) and Target (1800 U.S. stores) exclusive products.

No expiration on redemptions!

Don’t forget about the younger 7-10 year olds. Keep producing 99 cent pack price. Younger kids still get excited without bug hits