The Athletic Launches a Dedicated Trading Card and Sports Memorabilia Vertical

The sports publisher The Athletic launched a new vertical today covering the world of sports memorabilia and trading cards. It’s a market whose value is forecast to reach $227 billion by 2032, according to the consulting firm Market Decipher. 

The vertical is launching as part of a multiyear partnership with the commerce platform eBay, which in recent years has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into growing its collectibles and memorabilia business. 

As part of the agreement, relevant eBay trading cards, collectibles, and memorabilia will be shoppable throughout The Athletic. The publisher declined to share financial specifics. 

“For an entry-level collector, jumping into this space requires a lot of information,” said Sebastian Tomich, chief commercial officer at The Athletic. “We felt like this was an opportunity to take a massive platform like The Athletic and point it toward an interest that has a big but growing audience.”

The partnership will include a series of media campaigns to come later in August and branded content created exclusively for The Athletic by T Brand Studio, with on-platform creative promoted across the websites of both The Athletic and eBay.

The tie-up is the latest in a series of multiyear commitments The Athletic has brokered with strategic brand partners. The publisher, which is owned by The New York Times, has struck similar deals with BetMGM to power its sports gambling offerings and StubHub to power its ticketing business.

The deals have helped expedite the growth of its advertising business, which launched from scratch in September 2022. In 2023, The Athletic generated $28 million in advertising revenue, and through the first six months of 2024, it has brought in $12.8 million, according to earnings reports.  

The partnership also furthers The Times’ efforts to diversify its business away from traditional news and advertising. Through the arrangement, The Athletic will bring in advertising revenue, but it will also gain another source of affiliate revenue and, by tapping into a new readership, appeal to a new cohort of potential subscribers.

The resurgence of sports collectibles 

The business of sports memorabilia and trading cards has grown rapidly since the pandemic, which provided fans with ample time to reconnect with the nostalgic hobby, according to Brooks Peck, the senior editor for sports memorabilia and collectibles at The Athletic.

That resurgence combined with an increased interest in professional sports more generally, which in recent years have commanded record viewerships from both male and female audiences. The financialization of the industry—spurred in part by the spread of legalized sports gambling—has further fueled the renaissance of the decades-old pastime.

Attendance at the annual National Sports Collectors Convention, for instance, has doubled in recent years, from roughly 50,000 visitors four years ago to about 100,000 visitors the past two years, according to The Robb Report.

Through its coverage, The Athletic plans to serve this growing audience of trading card and memorabilia enthusiasts. 

Memorabilia coverage trades up

At launch, the vertical will be staffed by only a handful of full-time editors working with a rotating cast of freelancers, according to Peck. The desk will cover news in the industry, such as the consequential legal battle occurring between two of its primary players, Panini, and Fanatics, as well as offer coverage designed to help potential buyers navigate a purchase decision.

“As one of the world’s top destinations for collectibles, with 132 million buyers in more than 190 markets around the world, we’re excited to be The Athletic’s exclusive partner in launching their new collectibles section,” said eBay’s global chief marketing officer Adrian Fung. “Our partnership will combine the insights and incredible inventory from eBay’s global marketplace with the unique storytelling and trusted voices of The Athletic’s team.”

Stories related to sports memorabilia that The Athletic penned in the past often performed well, which helped validate the decision. During the pandemic, the publisher created a list of the top trading cards of all time, as well as a deeply reported long read about a scandal exposed by the discovery of a doctored Mickey Mantle card.

The vertical aims to function somewhat like Wirecutter, The Times’ product review division. Although The Athletic will not be evaluating any of the memorabilia itself, it will work with experts to offer an informed analysis of the industry, its products, and its prevailing trends. 

The publisher hopes to serve veterans of the hobby as well as newcomers and plans to use channels like social video to expose new audiences to its memorabilia coverage.

“There is a need for more authoritative coverage in this space,” Peck said. “We want to provide a helping hand to newcomers and make it easier for them to get involved.”