The Hobby Is Booming. Now It’s Our Responsibility to Protect It.

Trading cards are experiencing extraordinary growth. What happens next will depend on whether the industry can build the trust, standards, and infrastructure necessary to sustain it.

Nick Jarman | Founder & CEO, Certified Trading Card Association

There may never have been a more exciting time to be part of the trading card hobby. What was once largely defined by card shops, weekend shows, wax boxes and collectors trading across kitchen tables has evolved into a sophisticated global ecosystem. Collectors can buy and sell cards from their phones. Breaks can connect people from around the world in real time. Grading has created an entirely new layer of authentication and value. Technology can identify cards almost instantly. Marketplaces have created unprecedented liquidity. Athletes, entertainers, creators and major brands are entering the space.

Card shows are growing. New businesses are being built. Innovation is happening everywhere. And perhaps most importantly, another generation is discovering something many of us have known for years:

There is something special about collecting cards.

The hobby is booming.

But with that growth comes something we don't talk about nearly enough. Responsibility.

Growth Changes the Stakes

When an industry grows, its problems grow with it. A bad transaction that once affected two collectors at a local show can now affect hundreds or thousands of people online.

• A stolen card can move across the country within hours.

• A dishonest seller can reach an enormous audience.

• A questionable breaking practice can be broadcast live.

• A counterfeit, altered card or fraudulent listing can change hands multiple times before anyone realizes there is a problem.

• And a single high-profile incident can influence how people outside our community perceive the entire hobby.

That doesn't mean the hobby is fundamentally unsafe or unhealthy. Quite the opposite.

Millions of transactions happen successfully. Thousands of businesses serve collectors responsibly. Incredible communities have formed around cards. Lifelong friendships are created every day because two people discovered they shared an appreciation for the same player, team, set or character. Those stories represent the hobby far better than its worst headlines.

But we also shouldn't ignore legitimate challenges simply because we love collecting.

A strong hobby should be capable of celebrating what is working while confronting what isn't. That is part of growing up as an industry.

Trust Is Becoming the Hobby's Most Valuable Asset

For decades, much of the hobby operated on relationships.

You knew your local card shop owner.

You knew the collectors at the show.

You knew who had a good reputation.

A handshake meant something because reputation traveled quickly within relatively small communities. Today, transactions increasingly happen between people who may never meet. That changes the importance of trust.

A collector purchasing a card online needs confidence in the seller.

A participant entering a break needs confidence in the breaker.

Someone purchasing a graded card needs confidence in the authentication process.

A customer using a marketplace needs confidence that appropriate safeguards exist.

A parent introducing a child to collecting needs confidence that the environments they encounter are responsible.

And businesses investing millions of dollars into this industry need confidence that the ecosystem surrounding them can support continued growth.

That means trust can no longer exist only between individuals. Increasingly, trust must be supported by infrastructure.

• Standards.

• Education.

• Transparency.

• Authentication.

• Technology.

• Accountability.

• Consumer protection.

• Responsible business practices.

None of those things diminish what makes the hobby fun. They protect it.

We Shouldn't Wait for Someone Else to Solve It

One of the reasons the Certified Trading Card Association was created was a simple realization:

There are challenges in this hobby that no single company can solve.

• A marketplace can improve its policies.

• A grading company can improve its processes.

• A breaker can operate responsibly.

• A retailer can create an exceptional customer experience.

• A technology company can build an innovative product.

But some issues cross every part of the ecosystem.

Fraud does.

Theft does.

Consumer confidence does.

Education does.

Responsible participation does.

Industry standards do.

These are collective challenges. And collective challenges require coordination. That does not mean one organization should control the hobby.

It shouldn't.

The trading card community is too diverse, entrepreneurial and creative for that—and preserving those qualities matters. The role of an independent trade association should instead be to create a table where the industry can come together.

• Collectors.

• Retailers.

• Breakers.

• Manufacturers.

• Marketplaces.

• Grading companies.

• Technology providers.

• Card shows.

• Content creators.

• Athletes and licensors.

• Hobby businesses large and small.

• Even competitors.

Because there are areas where competition makes businesses stronger, and there are areas where collaboration makes the entire industry stronger. Knowing the difference will be increasingly important.

Standards Should Not Mean Sameness

The word standards sometimes makes people uncomfortable. It can sound like regulation. It can sound like someone telling businesses how they must operate. That isn't what a healthy industry standard should accomplish. Standards should establish a reasonable baseline of trust while leaving enormous room for businesses to innovate and compete above it. Think about the basic principles most responsible participants in this industry already support.

• Transactions should be transparent.

• Customers should receive what they purchased.

• Material information shouldn't intentionally be concealed.

• Breaks should be conducted fairly.

• Businesses should protect customer information.

• Stolen property shouldn't knowingly circulate through the marketplace.

• Claims about products and services should be truthful.

• Consumers should have reasonable ways to address legitimate disputes.

None of those ideas should be controversial. The opportunity is to take principles the best operators already practice and make them increasingly recognizable throughout the industry. Because when consumers know what responsible participation looks like, good businesses benefit.

We Must Protect What Makes This a Hobby

There is another responsibility that comes with growth. We cannot allow the business of trading cards to overwhelm the joy of collecting them. Cards have value. Sometimes tremendous value. There are businesses built around them. Investors participate in the market. Data and analytics influence purchasing decisions. Cards can be alternative assets. All of that can coexist with collecting.

But a trading card is also something much simpler.

• It can be a kid pulling their favorite player.

• A father handing a collection to his daughter.

• Two collectors completing a trade.

• Someone finding the final card needed to finish a set.

• A fan getting an autograph.

• A collector discovering a forgotten box from childhood.

• Or a group of strangers becoming friends because they happened to collect the same thing.

Those moments matter. The future of this industry cannot be measured exclusively in transaction volume, market capitalization, auction records or sales growth. We should also ask:

Are we creating an environment where people will still love collecting twenty years from now?

That may ultimately be the most important measurement of all.

The Next Generation Is Watching

Every industry eventually faces a generational transition. Trading cards are no different. The long-term health of this hobby depends on new collectors entering it and having experiences that make them want to stay. That creates an enormous responsibility for everyone operating within this ecosystem.

• Their first experience matters.

• Their first card show matters.

• Their first break matters.

• Their first purchase matters.

• Their first interaction with another collector matters.

• Their first experience when something goes wrong matters, too.

We aren't simply competing for today's transactions.

We are building tomorrow's collectors.

And if we want this hobby to thrive for generations, we must make sure growth doesn't come at the expense of trust, accessibility, education or enjoyment.

Bigger Is Not Enough

The trading card industry has an extraordinary opportunity in front of it. Technology will continue transforming collecting. New marketplaces will emerge. Artificial intelligence will create capabilities we haven't imagined yet. Authentication will improve. Global participation will increase. New categories of collectibles will develop. Major brands will continue entering the space. And the boundaries between physical collecting, digital experiences, entertainment, commerce and community will continue to blur.

There is every reason to be optimistic. But the goal shouldn't simply be a bigger hobby. It should be a better hobby.

• One where innovation is encouraged.

• Where responsible businesses thrive.

• Where collectors have access to better information.

• Where bad actors find it increasingly difficult to operate.

• Where competitors can work together when the interests of the entire industry are at stake.

• Where children can discover collecting safely.

• Where longtime collectors still recognize the hobby they fell in love with.

And where trust grows alongside revenue. That is the opportunity in front of us.

This Is the State of the Hobby

State of the Hobby was created because this industry deserves thoughtful conversations about where it is going, not simply reporting about where it has been.

• We will celebrate progress.

• We will examine challenges.

• We will share research and data.

• We will explore emerging technology.

• We will highlight people and companies moving the hobby forward.

• We will discuss difficult issues when they need to be discussed.

• And we will bring different voices from across the trading card ecosystem into the conversation.

We won't always agree. We shouldn't. Healthy industries debate ideas. But there should be one principle capable of bringing all of us together:

Leave the hobby stronger than we found it.

The next chapter of the trading card hobby will not be defined solely by how large this industry becomes. It will be defined by what we choose to build while it grows. We have an opportunity to create a hobby that welcomes the next generation, protects the people participating in it, embraces innovation, preserves what makes collecting special and earns the trust necessary to thrive for decades to come.

Growth brought us to this moment.

What we do with it is now our responsibility.

That is the State of the Hobby.

And this is only the beginning.