Tip Off: Panini America Unveils New Roster of 2011-12 NBA Trading Card Products
Panini America, the world’s largest sports and entertainment collectibles company and the exclusive trading card partner of the NBA, will celebrate the NBA’s return with a completely overhauled roster of products for the 2011-12 season engineered to appeal equally to casual fans and hardcore collectors alike.
The company announced today that it has planned five products for the new season, including the return of the venerable Hoops brand and special double rookie redemption cards honoring the 2011-12 and 2012-13 Rookie Classes.
Panini America will tip off the new NBA collecting season with the late-February hobby release of 2012 Preferred Basketball, a new high-end addition that will deliver three autographs and one six- or eight-piece memorabilia booklet card in every pack. Preferred will retail for $200.
Preferred will be followed by the triumphant return of Hoops (March), a collecting landmark that ignited the basketball collecting craze with a history-making debut in 1989-90. With a $1 retail pack price, Hoops will appeal to a broad fan base and will also include autographed buybacks of original 1989-90 Hoops cards. Panini America also will release a hobby-specific version of Hoops ($2 a pack and $72 a box) that will feature 15 inserts, autographed copies of original 1989-90 Hoops cards and two autographs per box.
“We are excited by the return of the NBA and look forward to delivering NBA trading cards to basketball fans around the world with the release of our 2011-12 NBA products,” said Panini America CEO Mark Warsop. “There was so much excitement for the NBA and its players last season and we are looking forward to picking up where we left off. The time away has only strengthened the demand for Panini NBA trading card products and we’re confident that our new product roster will be well received.”
After Hoops, Panini America will release 2011-12 Limited (May), 2011-12 Past & Present (June) and 2011-12 Gold Standard (July). The Limited and Gold Standard releases will include unique cards redeemable for the first Rookie Cards of members of the 2011-12 and 2012-13 NBA rookie classes.
Stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance for additional details on Panini America’s complete 2012 NBA product roster.
Trackbacks
- Panini America Unveils New Roster of 2011-12 NBA Trading Card Products - Blowout Cards Forums
- 2011-12 Panini Basketball? - OzCardTrader.com.au
- 2011-12 Panini NBA Trading Cards Line-up | SportsCardBlog.net – Sports Card Blog – Your Source for Sports Card Info
- anyone know about new products? - Blowout Cards Forums
The Knight's Lance 
The wait has been far too long; can’t wait for some new products!
Sweet! Now trim the fat in football too…take some of the best stuff and cram it into 5-6 products. 1-2 high end, 1-2 rookie oriented, a low end and a legends oriented.
Cant wait to see what you guys have in store!
Bring on the new releases
Cheers
Matt
Go you halvies in a few cases 😉
The inclusion of ’12-’13 rookies is huge. Kyrie and Kemba, along with rookie sleepers such as Iman Schumpert will make this year’s products exciting to break. The 12-13 class, however, has really enticing talent and the inclusion of those athletes will be ground-breaking for Basketball. Baseball and even Football has seen collegians included in product. A Basketball product that features a cast of gifted NBA “gonna’-Be’s” is really novel.
Nicely done. Upper Deck and Topps… Hello? Anyone there? Where’d they go!?!
“Upper Deck and Topps…Hello? Anyone there? Where’d they go!?!”
You better as David Stern that question….not Panini. I for one would welcome either or both back into the market for the competition aspect. With a monopoly on NBA cards, Panini is able to “do what they want”.
I’m not saying I haven’t enjoyed busting certain Panini NBA products for the last couple of years, but I think having at least two companies making product is better for the collectors.
Jim, you’re absolutely correct. When Panini received the exclusive licensing, my response, after the obligatory sandwich comments, was “keen competition ensures that product high quality will remain high and prevent unnecessary escalation in price. How can this possibly be good for the hobby?” Panini has injected excitement into the industry with novel programs such as Black Friday. In conjunction, their products have been well-executed, a greater number of multi-color memorabilia inserts (in my box-breaking experience) on average, and fewer redemptions per product than was the rule with Topps. Complacency is certainly an issue to keep an eye on with refard to future releases, and questions regarding Panini’s ability to keep product fresh and at the same price point remain.
Solid point, Jim.
Why only five products??
Not that I have the money to bust them, but I’d really like to see some National Treasures and Elite Black Box on the docket as well. Any chance of seeing that? Also, any chance to reduce how many draftees have autographs? Anything over the 15th pick shouldn’t have an AU, but maybe a GU. Thanks.
i totally agree.. what the heck has happened to national treasures.. its clearly not an issue about the price of the box as i have seens hundred upon hundreds opened.. hell ive bought 6 boxes haha… they better return.. the elite black box was fairly average i thought.. gold standard seemed better..
First of all, IAT (it’s about time). Being a collector during the last lockout, I know that companies changed how many sets came out as well and then produced more when there was a full season. Is this the Hoops set that collectors voted on subset ideas a while back?
Yes, sir. The “A Night to Remember” insert will be included in Hoops.
Crown royale rocks. Nice to see some NBA previews. Blake Griffin especially. he is a beast and is the man. The clippers could be a tough beat this year. Hopefully my Knicks can win a few games.
Also glad to see Hoops return. Brings me back to the 90’s collecting good days.
Blake Griffin and Chris Paul? Filthy duo and amongst the most formidable tandems in the league.
Am I missing something? I don’t see mention of the release of 11-12 Crown Royale yet the lead photo is a Crown Royale card.
Stay tuned. We should have complete details soon that will clear up any confusion.
CANT WAIT CANT WAIT CANT WAIT CANT WAIT!
Just to clarify… are these the only five products this year?
Yes.
Can’t wait to see the new stuff.Tracy, you need to tell the designers to add some rasheed Wallace cards in the products 😉 iam bored since there is no new stuff of him 😦
That Blake auto/patch is sweet.
Little concerned with no local Hobby store, will any of these besides Hoops be hitting retail?
I know it’s early, but when will the checklists be available?
Not sure just yet, but will post them here as soon as they’re ready to go.
Great job adding the 2012/13 redemptions for ‘next’ years rookie class, those are redemptions that are actually kind of fun.
Great idea to limit the products this year. Last years releases all seemed the same to me. Same design, same players with autos and jerseys in every product. I would love to see you do the same to football. Rookies & Stars (and Longevity) Gridiron Gear, Prestige, can all go in my opinion. Release 5 sets a year and really load it up.
No National Treasures?!?!
I cant wait to bust some Prefffered Basketball!!!!! Its been to long since ive busted some basketball. So i take it that the 2011/2012 rookie autos and cards wont be in the product but only as redemptions? Is that because you guys didnt have the “Rookie Premiere Photo Shoot” this year? If so i understand because you guys have to get their pics and obtain their autos right? Either way i cant wait for some basketball!!!!
Looking forward to the new products – especially Hoops……but we need our NT !!
First, does 5 products mean that stickers and Adrenalyn game cards are not being produced this year?
Second, 29 inserts in Hoops – that seems way over the top! I’m sure no one would complain if you did away with 2/3 of the planned inserts. Hopefully you’ll burn a few into the base set. That said, I’m really looking forward to this product. You can even bring on the coach and mascot card if you want!
You would do good for yourselves to NEVER release Gold Standard Basketball.
Not one person I trade with thought this was a good product. Your other products have been great ( National Treasures, Contenders, etc.) Gold Standard was just a mess of sticker autos and very bad production quality. Please use the money you would spend on Gold Standard and upgrade the content of Limited.
Appreciate your candor and your feedback.
Love the idea of 89 Hoops autos. Hoping for a David Robinson one. Would love to see the Pistons Championship card autographed by Isiah and other champs from the 89 season. It could bring new value to a Mitch Richmond rookie if he signed a small amount as well.
Why no National Treasures?
Yes many questions some you probably won’t want to or cannot answer :p
Loving the return of Gold Standard an absolutely awesome set with some really well made cards that just looked absolutely stunning when in the right light. Has really been a Joy to chase down as many Gold standard Ray Allens as I could with the 1/1 black and two gold dot cards being my crowning achievement.
It was really well received over here in Oz from all the breaks i saw online and written up. The way the autographs were inlaid into the cards was pretty cool. Are the redeemable cards in gold standard for the next batch of rookies just going to be draft pick numbers?
The hoops buybacks are something that sound pretty cool there is a bit of a buzz already about them I’ve seen. Although the 29 insert thing is pretty out of control :S
I’m pretty excited about Preferred the whole booklet thing sounds awesome will be interesting to see if they are just memorabilia or have auto’s as well so cannot wait for that! I’m going to guess that the “Past and Present” will contain a lot of the veteran and retired players in the one set rather than sprinkling retired players over a few releases?
I like the fact that there is only 5 products for the year. It’ll bring the value up of all the players, assuming ya’ll don’t make each auto /999. It should also cut down on the redemptions, which we all know, no one is a fan of.
I really hope you make Gold Standard Basketball just like this years football one…
Nice Work Panini!
p.s. is there snow falling down on this site or do i just have a virus??
Oh, it’s snow. Just a little something — thanks to the folks at WordPress — to get people into the holiday spirit.
No rookies and stars ?! Hopefully these products have high gloss just vintage photos what is hoops will it have color photos?
no prestige or threads something like that?
Not sure how Panini got the rights to the Hoops brand but I hope they are fairly true to the original concept (which looks like the case judging by last year’s promo cards).
I’m probably in the minority but I would really like to see a thorough and well thought out Score Basketball base product. Panini has done a great job with Score Hockey and Football. Why not basketball?
I love the idea of re-releasing the simple but highly-appealing Hoops product. Hoops contained some great names and was popular, in large part, due to it’s simplicity.
An eye-popping 29 inserts/parallels is anything BUT simple, and then there are the autos.
Creating a base card set that serves as more than “filler,” more than “that which I sift through before I find my big hit(s),” is exceptionally difficult. Few base sets intrigue collectors who have been bombarded by product. The photography sells the base-set, as does compelling blurbs and factoids on the back of the card.
Reinventing and re-releasing a product that has “Remember When” appeal is really admirable, and I like the inclusion of autos from those key players featured in the 89-90 Hoops product. But in my eyes, the 29 inserts totally diminish the appeal of the set, for hearkening back to simpler collecting days did NOT include such card-clutter.
Have you got Phil Jackson to sign his autograph’s yet Panini?
Not yet, but we expect to have an update before the end of the year.
Did I read that right when it says 2011-12 Hoops will have 29 different insert sets?
How many of these sets will hit retail stores?
Just a hunch, but maybe the 29 inserts mean that you’ll get 29 insert cards in a box? I applaud any set that has a decent base set. There are many players that won’t otherwise get a single card in a set if they aren’t a rookie. I liked the base set you did the first year, hope Hoops is the replacement to it.
Just to set the record straight, I was mistaken. There are 15 inserts in 2011-12 Hoops, including parallels.
Thanks for the clarification. 15 is still plenty but I’m glad to here it includes parallels. Looking forward to seeing some Hoops sneak peaks. Bring it on!
Can you clarify 2011/12 rookie cards? Will there be unsigned rookie cards in all 2011/12 products?
Very interesting to go with 5 products…a little sad to see not as much variety, but totally understandable given the shortened season to have a smaller selection of products. Here’s looking forward to getting some awesome Blazers pulls and hopefully an Arvydas Sabonis jersey or auto card!!! ;o)
nice to see whats coming straight from a company insted of seeing them on sell sheets on sell sites
what about national treasures. have you heard anything about that yet? i really want a case of it this year