WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. — Piece of The Game Sports Cards and Collectibles, a one-of-a-kind sports cards and collectibles store, opens its flagship location today.

Moving operations from an online platform, which serves some of the largest sports collectibles markets in the U.S., has been a goal of owner David Prince for the last two years. Their first location -- off bustling U.S. Route 9 in Wappingers Falls -- is the prototype for future stores already slated to open in Westchester County, N.Y., and Mahwah, N.J., over the next year. The goal is to "have a truly unique and immersive experience for avid sports cards and collectible patrons." There is a ribbon-cutting ceremony today at 4 p.m. with a public opening tomorrow at 11 a.m.

"As a card collector since I was a child, I wanted to create a space that allows the cards to be displayed as they should be," Prince said. "Cards are now considered alternative assets, similar to fine art, and my store displays cards and collectibles as such."

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StarStock has been a home for online breaks and plenty of card-selling on its marketplace but there's one more component coming next week from the Mamaroneck, N.Y.-based company.

Live-streamed daily auctions for just one hour every weeknight.

"StarStock Auctions will feature an innovative new format that has been reimagined for the digital world, live-streamed daily, and lasting no longer than one to three minutes in duration per lot," said a company announcement from CEO Scott Greenberg revealing the service that launches on Nov. 23. "StarStock Auctions will be instantaneous, immediately gratifying, and packed with high entertainment value."

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World Wrestling Entertainment has a new tag team partner in Panini America.

Beginning in 2022, Panini will be the exclusive card- and sticker-maker for WWE, ending Topps' current run with the company that began in 2005. It was described as a multi-year deal.

“We have always been intrigued by WWE as a license partner and their fans’ incredible passion,” said Panini America CEO Mark Warsop in a prepared release. “Our entire team is looking forward to adding WWE, a truly iconic license, to our roster of exclusive partners. We have big plans for our WWE portfolio and the new heights we can help WWE trading cards and stickers reach in the collectibles arena.”

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Japan's professional baseball players will soon appear on Topps cards.

The company revealed this week that it has a new deal with Nippon Professional Baseball to make its baseball cards in Japan. This deal is a first for Topps with the debut NPB cards coming later this year.

"We have been actively pursuing the NPB league as a way to better serve baseball and sports fans in Japan and beyond," said David Leiner, Topps' Global GM for Sports and Entertainment. "We feel the licensing agreement will deliver fans an exciting range of collectible products and enhance how fans collect their favorite teams and players."

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If you don't own one of the most-iconic Mike Trout Rookie Cards, you now have your shot at one.

Not one, not two but three PSA 10 2011 Topps Update Trout RCs will be up for grabs with Loupe and MLB's Top of the Pack fan vote that will let fans choose the best of the best when it comes to MLB cardboard from the past.

There are 32 cards in the running for top honors with this one -- everything from the T206 Honus Wagner to the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle and, of course, this memorable card as part of a bracket that includes every MLB team.

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Christian Pulisic won't be changing cardboard teams any time soon.

Panini America revealed on Wednesday that it has extended its exclusive long-term deal with the soccer star for autographs and memorabilia for another five years. He's been with the company since 2016.

“We’re proud to have Christian as an exclusive member of the Panini family – it’s a special relationship that has really blossomed during the first five years,” said Panini America CEO Mark Warsop in a prepared release. “Christian has been a driving force behind our entire soccer portfolio – both domestically and internationally. This extension will see so many things taken to the next level and we can’t wait.”

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Update: More details have been added since the initial Aug. 19 news.

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Will it be the end of an era?

The Wall Street Journal, Sportico and Action Network are reporting that Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association are going to sign new exclusive licensing agreements to make their baseball cards via Fanatics -- the multi-faceted business giant that, well, has never made baseball cards before.

Topps and Panini America are the present card-makers with Topps holding rights to both licenses and Panini holding just an MLB Players deal. According to the reports, the Topps deal runs until 2026 with the union deal until 2023. Topps has made MLB cards continuously since 1951.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: CM Punk returns to wrestling with AEW, MLB-Topps chatter, Joey Votto, new breaks and more.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: The day after ... MLB, NBA and NFL fans ponder the Fanatics fallout.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: eBay suspends PWCC, new pulls, a big NBA grading mailday Project70 and landing the big one.

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Panini America's college cardboard to come with current players is now down with the CLC.

The company confirmed on Monday that its upcoming plans to make cards of current players on cards under the NCAA's new name, image and likenesses rules will extend to using trademarks for more than 200 schools under the CLC licensing program. It will include men's and women's stars in the major sports as well as Olympic sports.

“Panini’s leadership in the market and exclusive license agreement in the trading card category helps ensure each participating institution retains approval rights for when and how their logos are used in conjunction with any NIL trading card products,” said David Kirkpatrick, CLC’s VP of Non-Apparel Licensing, in a prepared release. “This helps protect the collegiate institutions we represent while allowing Panini to work with student-athletes to identify product opportunities within in the parameters of institution policies.”

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New NCAA rules allowing college athletes making money off their likeness -- and signing autographs -- will mean amateurs are coming to cardboard very soon with Panini America now in on the action.

The company revealed Thursday that it has joined teams with OneTeam Partners, a leader in the group licensing space, to "produce, distribute, promote and sell college trading cards featuring current men’s and women’s college athletes who opt-in to OneTeam’s College Athlete Group Licensing program." Panini intends to create athletes' cards for several sports including football, basketball, baseball and the Olympic sports for both men's and women's competitors in the program.

"The trading card market is booming, and Panini is the leader in the category," said Ahmad Nassar, CEO of OneTeam, in a prepared release. "With its existing current college licenses, there is an amazing opportunity to make co-branded college and current college athlete cards for the first time in history – across schools and men’s and women’s sports. The group-licensing model is key to including athletes in broad-based licensed products like this."

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Collectors Universe has a new CEO.

Executive Chairman Nat Turner (at left) has been appointed to the role after Joe Orlando stepped down from the spot in the company where he has worked for 20 years. Collectors Universe is the parent company of Professional Sports Authenticator and Professional Coin Grading Service which was recently acquired by an investor group led by Turner, D1 Capital Partners and Cohen Private Ventures.

"I’m so proud of everything we’ve achieved as a team at Collectors Universe over the last 20 years," Orlando said in a prepared statement. "I know this is the right time for me to step aside because the company is stronger than ever. Nat has already demonstrated that he knows what’s required to scale the business in order to meet customer demand while also protecting the company’s reputation that has been carefully built on trust, integrity and transparency. This was a hard decision for me but I’m looking forward to spending more time with my family and staying active in the hobby, my personal passion."

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Showing off Shohei Ohtani cards and Topps Independence Day parallels, The National, acquisition reactions, big pulls and more in today's edition.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: The National, Shohei Ohtani, NIL rights for college athletes, big pulls and ... 10 autos in four Stadium Club boxes? (Yep.)

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Panini America has a new team member.

Likely top-five pick and NBA G League standout Jalen Green has signed an exclusive card and autographed card deal with the company, according to an announcement released on Thursday.

“Jalen is the kind of exciting, offensively gifted young player that fans and collectors alike clamor for and we’re excited to partner with him for such a meaningful relationship,” said Panini CEO Mark Warsop in a prepared release. “He will absolutely be a key figure in our products not just during his rookie season, but for years to come. He’s a bright part of our future and the future of licensed trading cards.”

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The Kids are coming to HBO Max.

Danny McBride -- you know, Kenny Powers -- and his Rough House Pictures production company are bringing an animated Garbage Pail Kids series to the network at some point soon, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The project arrives in part due to Rough House's David Gordon Green being a GPK fan, and, according to the report, the "series will be family-friendly and appeal to audiences of all ages."

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Ripping new golf, Albert Pujols to the Dodgers, Target sales, WWE chatter, alleged falling NBA prices and ... a loaded 2021 Bowman format?

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: So, yeah, Target is temporarily halting card sales ... plus Project70, NBA bubble fatigue, MLB breaks and one guy says "James Harden will be the GOAT before he's done."

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: Wade Miley throws a no-no, Bo Bichette, impressive pulls, WWE card chatter, collecting on TV, bad news and ... could a Prizm botch lead to a better approach?

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are a few threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing: NFL Draft chatter, reacting to Aaron Rodgers, big pulls, 2021 Bowman and more.

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Luka Doncic is staying in Dallas.

No, that's not a trade-defying, on-the-court statement, it's the result of Panini America signing an exclusive autograph and memorabilia deal with the Mavericks star that was revealed on Thursday. That means a continued presence on Panini cards -- but no new ink elsewhere -- and then more Panini Authentic memorabilia signings.

“We’ve had a front-row seat here in the Dallas area and have watched in amazement as Luka’s style of play has made him one of the NBA’s most popular players around the world, and we knew he was going to be a major factor in attracting new collectors to the NBA trading card hobby,” Panini America CEO Mark Warsop said in a prepared release. “But he’s just getting started and we’re proud to welcome him to the rich fraternity of Panini America-exclusive athletes. This partnership is going to be something special.”

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How do you help grade a backlog of cards that's in the millions?

Software.

PSA revealed on Wednesday that it has acquired Genamint to "improve and scale the process by which PSA handles trading card submissions." The company's technology "analyzes each trading card in real-time and is able to provide diagnostics, measurements and detect alterations or other changes made to a card’s surface in an effort to assist human graders." According to a prepared release, "it will also provide unique card identification – or 'card fingerprinting' – by identifying the exact card in order to track provenance, resubmissions, condition changes and other attributes over time."

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If you've been considering joining group breaks but don't know where to look, there's one relatively new option to help get you in the loop.

It's Loupe and it's a live-streaming e-commerce app launched late last year that's focused on helping group-breakers and their potential customers get their ripping done all in one spot.

Describing itself as combining "the community of video game streaming with the excitement of opening cards" and a one-of-a-kind first, Loupe is regularly hosting big breaks with this big highlight over the weekend.

"Until today, no one app had perfected the unified user experience for breaking sports cards live," said a company release. "And that’s where Loupe comes in, by providing all the tools both buyers and sellers need within one mobile app, bringing together disparate technologies and platforms and letting buyers and sellers come together to rip open packs of cards."

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NFTs are coming to MLB baseball cards.

Topps revealed on Monday its plans for 2021 Topps Series 1 Baseball NFT, which arrives next Tuesday, April 20, at 1 p.m. Eastern. There will be 50,000 six-card standard packs made ($5) and 24,090 premium 45-card packs made ($100).

Non-fungible tokens will be made using images of 2021 Topps flagship cards with them being "digitally enhanced and creatively reimagined" as part of the release.

“The partnership between Major League Baseball, MLB Players, Inc. and Topps has delighted collectors and fans for generations, celebrating the legendary players and iconic moments that have defined America’s Pastime,” said Tobin Lent, Topps' VP & GM of Digital Sports & Entertainment, in a prepared release. “Our MLB blockchain NFT series debut marks a historic moment in the modern evolution of collecting for both traditional and new collectors. We’re excited to bring almost a decade’s worth of digital collectibles innovations to 2021 Topps Series 1 and provide another fun avenue for fans to collect their favorite heroes and moments with secure digital ownership on the blockchain.”

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