Panini America reveals deal getting college athletes cards now

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."

Panini notes that this will be a multi-year deal with physical cards, digital cards and NFTs. It also will include Panini Instant as well as "on-demand co-branded college and player products" coming later this year.

“We are excited to work with OneTeam in the college space. OneTeam will bring much-needed resources and group-licensing expertise to college athletes as they navigate the new NIL landscape,” said Panini America CEO Mark Warsop. “OneTeam’s College Athlete Group Licensing program will give us the ability to reach a wide range of athletes across multiple schools and develop products that cut across all sports on both the men’s and women’s side.”

According to the company announcement, OneTeam is a joint venture with the MLBPA, NFLPA and RedBird Capital Partners to "maximize the collective value of athletes’ rights across group licensing, marketing, media and investing."

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