Panini Continues College Romp, Adds 200 More Universities to Card Agreement

Panini America has reached exclusive trading card agreements with Mississippi State, Baylor, N.C. State, K-State and more than 200 additional universities that will allow the company to use the schools’ team logos and university marks in its trading card products for college specific trading card sets, as well as Panini’s professionally licensed products for the NBA, NFL, NFL Players Inc. and MLBPA.

These new agreements come just days after last week’s announcement that Panini America had reached exclusive trading card agreements with the University of Kentucky, the University of Miami and the University of Georgia. The company will begin producing collegiate trading card products in the spring of 2015.

In addition to exclusive deals with three of the top 12 teams in the current Associated Press Top 25 college football poll (including No. 1 Mississippi State), the new agreement with more than 200 schools represented by LRG also includes traditional basketball-rich programs such as Memphis, Marquette, St. John’s, Temple and more.

“LRG is thrilled to partner with Panini on behalf of our clients. We are confident Panini represents the best this category has to offer and are excited about the relationship,” said Michael Van Wieren, Vice President and General Counsel, Licensing Resource Group, LLC.

“This has been an exciting few weeks for Panini America and the future of licensed college trading cards and we’re proud to be at the forefront of a new era,” said Mark Warsop, Panini America CEO. “We now have more than 225 universities signed to exclusive, multi-year trading card agreements – our unmatched retail distribution, commitment to marketing and ability to feature professional players in collegiate trading card products through our group player rights will lead to new growth in the collegiate collectibles category and all of our partners recognize that."