Nebraska women’s volleyball outsells men’s football in cards

Transcript

From the transcript TBPN publishes with the episode.

1. 57:59

   Okay. So really quickly. So as live events are growing, I feel like a lot of collectibles come out of the It's live like the game ball, the the the card of the player who played in the live event and you're sort of there's like this chain of custody, chain of authenticity. This thing happened. This human was great at this thing. There was lore. You could have gone and saw it with your own eyes and now there's a card that commemorates it. What's going on in the collectible space? Is there as much of a boom there? What do you expect happening over the next couple of years and what are you doing specifically?

2. 58:34

   Well, you know, a few years back, I created the when I heard trading cards were coming back, I quietly amassed the largest collection ever of my wife's cards just because I didn't want them ending up in some other collector's house. I wanted my kids to have that.

3. 58:46

   You're like no one's gonna make money on these cards but me. No. These are friendly areas. No. Sorry. No. They're gonna stay in the family forever. No. No. But you also you drive up the price by by taking all of those cards into the treasury. Yeah. And so everyone's like, the the the lore is growing. Yes. It's And Many knock on effects.

4. 59:03

   I, and then I was the lead investor in Alt, so marketplace, which just had they just set a record for an all time kaboom. Was like a $1,400,000 for a one of one Wemby. Wow. What's a kaboom? Real dollars. So it's a it is a a brand within the universe of trading cards that was inspired by, like, nineties era comics. Okay. And so it's your favorite players, but sort of restylized as, like, cartoons, almost like a comic book inspired art.

5. 59:27

   Yeah. And for whatever reason, it struck a nerve with the culture. And and so you have these record auctions happening. A big fan of collectible video games, match worn, you know, athletic apparel. All these things I think are culture assets for us. Like, having an 86 FLIR Jordan rookie card on my desk in mint condition is a better sort of more satisfying flex for me than having, a Warhol. No offense to Warhol, but I think the energy of contemporary art. Yeah. I think this is our contemporary art, especially for a generation of us who grew grew up collecting or idolizing. And and now that, you know, Topps and others have gotten much smarter. Oh, by the way, bought a trading card company.

6. 1:00:03

   Yeah. Explain that. I mean, is this normal firm? Is it within the firm? Yeah. Like, interesting strategy.

7. 1:00:11

   When you're the biggest LP in the VC firm, you get to kinda do what you wanna do. We have amazing institutional LPs. Don't get me wrong, but, like, I I sign up every deal we do at seven seven six. I'm when I'm hitting send. Yeah. I'm thinking of my kid's inheritance. Right? It this is my money more than anyone else's. Totally. And so or theirs, really. And so with trading cards, this was a a modest sized company that was specializing in college sports. Obviously, NIL has changed the landscape of that. And this long tail of college athletes, a guy like Mendoza gets a card deal with us, and he doesn't just get his rookie card. His left tackle gets a card. So the guy protecting his ass, who may never get to play in the NFL, may never get a card.

8. 1:00:51

   Mhmm. He's getting a card with on it. And, you know, I love the fact, we actually have just as many we have more women college athlete cards in the last year than every other card company combined. So there's a long tail there. University of Nebraska women's volleyball sells more cards than the men's football team. Woah. And so it's focused on a part of sports that I obviously love. I think college is obviously a huge and booming opportunity, and these companies all need software now. They all have an opportunity to

9. 1:01:17

   And do any of the athletes turn it down? No. It's I mean, the the amazing thing is we're playing at a level where, like, these some of these guys are making so much money in NIL deals Yeah. That the kind of deal we're striking with them is not Like $1,015,000,000? No. Well, no. That's the amount that they're making all year. That's not what I'm paying them. Yeah. No. No. No. No. They they these card deals are still pretty small ball.

10. 1:01:39

    Sure. And so relative to the deals they're getting from big brands. And what's dope is, you know, most of these guys are thinking big picture, And if they make a little less money doing it on deal, but every other guy on their team is getting a card Oh, sure. They're not mad. They're not mad. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The athletic directors love it because we're also working with the women athletes just as much as we are with the men. So Yeah. That's the focus. And and I'm but I'm inspired by so much of the motion and creativity happening here.