Player and team collectors, or those who enjoy regional sets, were in their glory at the NFL Experience and Topps Super Bowl Card Show.
This year's show took place in the parking lot adjacent to Dolphin Stadium, running through Super Sunday. Due to tightened security procedures, only fans with tickets to the game were allowed entrance to the show on the day of the Super Bowl game.
More than 40 exhibitors were on hand for the card show portion of the event, offering a variety of memorabilia and other collectibles. Between 40-50 current and former players were expected to be on hand to sign free autographs as well.
Event manager Pete Quaglierini of NFL Properties said he expected more than 150,000 people to attend the show.
More importantly, each of the NFL-licensed card companies had planned wrapper redemption programs whereby collectors can receive one of four cards featuring a current or former Dolphins player in exchange for three unopened packs of that company's 2006 football products.
Each company would produce a card of Dan Marino for its redemption program. The following is a list of what each company had planned for NFL Experience attendees.
Topps: This year's attendees of the Topps Super Bowl XLI Card Show had a chance to get the Topps exclusive 16-card Super Bowl set, which was available through dealer tables at the show.
Each of the 16 cards feature a new design and will include the Super Bowl logo on the card front. The set features Jason Taylor, Larry Johnson, Peyton Manning, Ronnie Brown, LaDainian Tomlinson, Tom Brady, Brian Urlacher, Frank Gore, Philip Rivers, Brett Favre, Tiki Barber, Marques Colston, Dan Marino, Reggie Bush, Vince Young and Matt Leinart.
Topps also offered a wrapper redemption program at its booth. Collectors who opened three wrappers of Topps/Bowman Football product received one of the exclusive Super Bowl cards, including Zach Thomas, Ronnie Brown and Joey Harrington.
Topps also offered the 2006 Topps Football Complete Set Super Bowl XLI Edition in special Super Bowl XLI packaging for $40. The boxed set will deliver a six-card insert featuring this year's top rookies Young, Leinart, Joseph Addai, Jay Cutler, Reggie Bush and Laurence Maroney.
Upper Deck: The company's wrapper redemption program hinged on giving away exclusive trading cards featuring Marino, Bob Griese, Jason Allen and Wes Welker.
The cards are numbered 1 to 2,006, and were only available through Upper Deck's wrapper redemption program at the show.
Collectors who brought three packs of any 2006 Upper Deck or Fleer Football products to the Upper Deck booth and opened the packs in front of an Upper Deck employee received one of the four Miami Dolphins football cards.
Each pack of cards must have a minimum suggested retail price of $2.99 or above. A list of participating products was posted in the Upper Deck booth.
In addition to the card giveaway, the Upper Deck booth featured activities to give away exciting prizes such as T-shirts, kids promo packs, stickers, hats and personalized cards.
Donruss Playoff: The company's card redemption program showcased four Dolphins cards for the event that were available via redemption the entire week. Collectors could bring three unopened packs of any 2006 Donruss Playoff trading card product to the booth to receive one of the redemption cards. Besides Marino, other cards in the set are Taylor, Marty Booker and Chris Chambers.
Donruss Playoff also had a 10-foot tall prize wheel at the event. Among the prizes available were T-shirts and mini-footballs, all featuring the Donruss Playoff logo. Spots on the wheel designated which of the prizes would be awarded, with the top prizes being NFL trading cards highlighting this year's postseason award winners. The cards were designed with the player appearing over the name of the award, with the year and name of the award appearing on the card front.
The six-card set showcases Tomlinson (won both the MVP and Offensive Player of the Year), Taylor (Defensive Player of the Year), Young & DeMeco Ryans (Offensive and Defensive Rookie of Year) and Chad Pennington (Comeback Player of the Year).
McFarlane: McFarlane Toys also produced a figure of Miami's Jason Taylor that was to be sold only at the show.
