The Rise and Evolution of College Football Cards

College football sets are more popular than ever in the sports card hobby.

Michael Penix Jr. and J.J. McCarthy represent more than just the two QBs squaring off in the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship. Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels are way more than our last two Heisman winners, respectively, and Arch Manning is significantly more than a backup QB with more media attention than starter Quinn Ewers.

While regular football fans are ready to welcome a new playoff format for next season, hobbyists have been busy ushering in a new era of collectibles with more reasons than ever to buy college prospect cards.

The niche landscape of college cards has completely changed since the hobby’s popularity boom, and hobbyists, collectors, and investors alike have updated the way they think about cards with players in college uniforms.

The short runway of college sets

While sports card manufacturers like Panini, Leaf, Donruss, Ultra, Pro Set and others have created cards with players in college uniforms for years, the market for these cards has been completely reshaped recently.

Whether licensed or unlicensed, these sets were all typically released with checklists that included the first cards for players in the current draft class as well as cards of current NFL stars and Hall of Famers in their college uniforms.

It has also been common for cards of those top draft picks in pro uniforms to release within a couple months of college products, essentially deflecting interest away from college sets.

The short runway for these cards caused an almost immediate decrease in interest — and loss in value too — making college cards almost obsolete within months after being released.

The berth of NIL and impact on licensing

In 2021, the landscape of college athletics changed with the introduction of the NCAA-approved name, image and likeness (NIL) policy. This heavily impacted the trading card market as well, and suddenly manufacturers could go directly to any active athlete to secure deals.

Before NIL, manufacturers like Panini America had to wait to feature athletes in pro uniforms on licensed cards. The timeline and availability completely changed with NIL.

The first major release of this new era was 2021-2022 Bowman University Football. The set leveraged the recognizable “1st Prospect” mark for players on their first Bowman card. This mark was made famous in baseball card prospecting, and when paired with a chrome card, you have a formula for a highly desirable card.

2021-2022 Bowman University featured airbrushed photos without college licenses.

Topps

 While this release featured autographs and refractors for top QB prospects like Bryce Young, CJ Stroud and Will Levis, it also lacked licensing. Collectors took notice because of the Bowman brand, but airbrushed photos without college branding was less than ideal.

This was a key start. It got attention. It highlighted players as individual brands. But collectors didn’t buy in entirely until the release of 2022 Bowman Chrome University. An all-chrome release, Topps had secured college licensing, meaning those 1st Bowman cards of top players like Caleb Williams featured the signature USC branding.

These details, along with a more desirable release window, helped increase the collectibility and overall value. A better release window has also helped keep these cards in the hobby spotlight for longer, and hobbyists responded with more interest than any previous college release.

The current landscape

By the time 2023 Bowman University Chrome Football came out, it was clear that this could be a release that hobbyists would gravitate toward year after year. It took a while to get there, but college football now has its flagship product. The set even got a Sapphire Edition — a product baseball and Formula 1 collectors are very familiar with.

But while NIL has helped make the rise of college cards possible, it’s also done plenty to complicate the checklists for these products too. A player like Arch Manning, for example, has been a popular target for collectors, but an exclusive NIL deal with Panini America has kept his key cards out of Bowman releases.

Arch Manning signed an exclusive NIL deal with Panini America.

Panini America

Despite complications from NIL deals, collectors have responded positively to the new card designs and production schedule. College football cards used to just be a way to have a cheap rip during the NFL offseason.

Now, just like other sports and segments of the hobby, college football cards feature hits, chases, and singles that are highly collectible.