Demand for Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, A'Ja Wilson, Paige Bueckers WNBA cards continues to grow
The WNBA season is underway, and fans and card collectors are excited for what's to come. With the likes of Caitlin Clark, A'Ja Wilson and newcomer Paige Bueckers, collectors are waiting for the first cards of the season to drop.
The good news is with Panini Instant, fans can grab cards of big moments as they happen. Panini's on-demand offering features highlights and big moments from throughout the season, which started with the WNBA Draft.
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Panini America saw big success with Instant last season, Clark's first year in the league. Not only was it a popular card release, but a Draft Night Clark 1-of-1 autographed parallel sold for $84,000 in September.
The Panini Instant cards are important for WNBA — maybe even more so than in other sports. In women's basketball, the players go from college into the WNBA without much of a break in between. This doesn't give Panini a lot of time to get new products on the shelves because of the time needed to create a new card release.
'Panini Instant was so important because for us, it gave us the ability to get consumers into collecting 'W' products and getting excited for the W product,' said Jason Howarth, Panini's senior vice president of marketing and athlete relations. 'When we finally released that first product in August last year, people were ready to go for it.'
This season, collectors won't have to wait as long for the first WNBA card product.
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There are five WNBA sets scheduled for this season — an all-time high for the league. The newest entry will be Donruss WNBA, which is scheduled for July.
Donruss has made a name for itself in the modern collecting space, especially in football, where the popular Downtown inserts can be found.
Downtown inserts will soon feature WNBA stars with this summer's release.
'Donruss will be awesome from a Downtown point of view,' Howarth said.
Panini has built WNBA collecting since it took over the card license in 2019. Before that, there may have been one product a year andit often came as a complete factory set with a chance of autographs. That product made about $50,000 in sales a year, according to Howarth.
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Panini has revamped the WNBA card collecting space by making more traditional pack products, giving collectors a chase with parallels, rare inserts and autographs.
As the WNBA has grown in popularity, so has the demand for cards, especially over the last year with Clark becoming the face of the league.
'I think you think there was a point in time where WNBA Prizm costs more on the secondary market than NBA Prizm,' Howarth said. 'I think that probably tells you the story about demand more than anything else. I think it always had a place in the category, but I think you saw a lot more migration and transition from other collectors of other core sports into the 'W,' and it is now viewed in that group of core sports. You've got the NFL, NBA, MLB, and now you've got the WNBA.'
This year's offerings will look different again. There are five WNBA products scheduled, up from three last season, which was also up from two the year before.
Last year saw the release of Panini Prizm (and the Monopoly version), Origins and Select. Previously, Panini also put out Revolutions.
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The release calendar is always a work in progress as the brand team finds the right pieces for the season. One thing they knew they needed for Clark's rookie season was Prizm to make its way to the WNBA.
Prizm has become a staple for Panini and one of the most highly sought-after rookie cards.
'To have the class that we had last year and not have Prizm would have been a complete miss for us and collectors,' Howarth said. 'It would be one of those things that you look back on and wonder why Caitlin [Clark] doesn't have a rookie Prizm card or Angel [Reese] doesn't have a rookie Prizm card.'
As the WNBA continues to grow, creating household names and superstars, the league continues to leave its mark. From the women's college tournament, right into the WNBA Draft and then the start of the WNBA season.
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While big names like Clark and Reese created a buzz last season, there is no slowing down.
'This class is equally as exciting,' Howarth said. 'We've seen that both from a collectible point of view just off of the Draft Night cards that we released here a few weeks ago. Lots of excitement around the product and lots of excitement and anticipation for more 'W' products.'
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