Short Story: Panini America Begins Leaking 2012 Contenders Football SP Quantities

Almost immediately following the celebrated release of 2012 Contenders Football earlier this week, the annual frenzy commenced as collectors across North America began scrambling to determine the relative scarcity of the set’s ample selection of Rookie Ticket SPs and variations.

It’s a captivating phenomenon that takes place every year and explains, for instance, how a base Rookie Ticket of New England Patriots speedster Jeff Demps can sell for $21.95 on Wednesday while another sells for $76.01 just one day later. Indeed, it didn’t take savvy researchers long to figure out just how short Demps’ RC is. (For the record, it’s limited to 99 copies, while his variation is limited to just 25 copies.)

Although it took some consistent groveling from yours truly late Friday afternoon, I finally managed to coax the first of what promises to be many 2012 Contenders Football SP lists from Panini America Production Manager Carlos Torrez. This one is by no means complete, but it does provide a tip-of-the-iceberg illustration of Contenders’ scarcest Rookie Tickets and RC variations.

ROOKIE TICKET SPs
Card #	Player	Team	Pos.	Qty.
167	Michael Brockers	St. Louis Rams	DT	38
131	Dont’a Hightower	New England Patriots	LB	47
120	Courtney Upshaw	Baltimore Ravens	LB	57
135	Jeff Demps	New England Patriots	RB	99
168	Michael Smith	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	RB	99
ROOKIE TICKET VARIATION SPs
Card #	Player	Team	Pos.	Qty.
124	David DeCastro	Pittsburgh Steelers	G	10
131	Dont’a Hightower	New England Patriots	LB	10
132	Dontari Poe	Kansas City Chiefs	DT	25
135	Jeff Demps	New England Patriots	RB	25
137	Fletcher Cox	Philadelphia Eagles	DT	25
138	George Iloka	Cincinnati Bengals	S	25
141	Harrison Smith	Minnesota Vikings	S	25
157	LaVon Brazill	Indianapolis Colts	WR	25
159	Luke Kuechly	Carolina Panthers	LB	25
163	Marvin Jones	Cincinnati Bengals	WR	25
167	Michael Brockers	St. Louis Rams	DT	25
168	Michael Smith	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	RB	25
179	Riley Reiff	Detroit Lions	OT	25
196	Whitney Mercilus	Houston Texans	LB	25
225	Russell Wilson	Seattle Seahawks	QB	25

 

Oh, and if you’re looking for a surefire visual tell-tale to differentiate the base Rookie Tickets from the variations, you can find it on the backs of the cards (check out the image below). The base versions include each player’s draft, college, height and weight information. The variations do not.

Stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance as we’ll have much more to share in the coming days. Below, you’ll find a few examples of the cards listed above.