Young collectors become more interested in watching sports when they are able to invest in the athletes competing.
And that is what makes the 2024 Summer Olympics so disappointing.
For the most part, the only rookie cards for today's greats — such as Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles and Caeleb Dressel — are found in their SI for Kids cards. And because prospectors knew to save the full sheets, nothing is extremely rare.
This week, Topps releases its Chrome Olympic set. It's an impressive effort. There are relic cards, 1/1 superfractors, and an amazing Chrome tribute to 1984 baseball. At $200 for a hobby box, it's a good price, given today's market.
But is it too little too late?
Energy can't come into a market when the only product you release comes out the day of the Opening Ceremonies. Collectors need to open packs. The hits need to be revealed, and there needs to be secondary market buzz. That's the golden formula.
It's important to understand there is a timing issue here, with how close qualification is to the Summer Games, and fast emerging stars might not be included. Still, there needs to be an understanding that this is a "tail wagging the dog" situation.
If a young collector has a high-end card of an Olympian, watching that Olympian live becomes appointment television. But good luck finding anything cool from the past of Noah Lyles besides a prep magazine cover here and there.
It's totally understandable for Topps not wanting to push out product in non-Olympic years. It's risky and maybe even an unprofitable endeavor. But it makes no sense that NBC and the USOC don't do more.
Let's start with NBC. They pay more than $1 billion per Olympics and are coming off their worst TV audience, for the 2022 Winter Games since 1964. Live TV viewership among young people has steadily moved down as kids find their highlights on social media when events are done and don't have the same desire for urgency that older generations do.
Can you imagine if NBC spent $50 million a year to subsidize a meaningful memorabilia program?
Can you imagine if their executives spent as much time dreaming up a collectibles strategy as they do a "Today Show" promotional strategy?
Can you imagine if they made sure the biggest Olympic stars were part of all the big autograph circuits at shows?
Can you imagine if the USOC cared to obtain collectible items used in the U.S. Trials?
Collecting isn't some standalone business. At least for those who collect active athletes, it's intricately connected with what happens next. And unfortunately, the lack of foresight by those who buy and sell the Olympics means a lot of urgency to watch in the moment disappears.
For a brand like NBC, when the location of the Olympics already provides a challenge of events happening in Paris six hours ahead in the social-media era, leaving opportunities like this on the table is a miscalculation.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.