So, after coming back to the hobby after a 2 year break I've been noticing something more and more when it comes to purchasing hobby boxes. Upper Deck has disappeared from football products!!!

I know UD lost its licensing with the NFL so it has switched to showing players in their collegiate uniforms which I think is neat, but after reviewing last year's UD products and looking at the release calendar for this year, can anyone tell me why UD has basically given up?

With Panini becoming redemption central, and Topps mainly focusing on RCs and not really current or retired players, it's become harder to find a product to purchase. SpX is now gone and been dissolved into SP Authentic it's mainly a two product company with only Authentic and hopefully still Exquisite.

I am thoroughly annoyed at this, I love the DONRUSS products, but the 50/50 chance of getting a redemption in most products is off-putting(Espically since they got rid of Classics for that garbage Timeless Trash) and Topps products are kinda blah, since you only get Rookie hits in most of them its way more hit and miss than UD or Panini(Jordan Todman )

To sum this up, I'm not trying to rant but disappointed UD hasn't taken advantage of Panini messing up what was once the best brand of football card in my opinion and deciding to retreat and focus on the other sports.

Not sure on the specifics.. but UD (sadly) had a lot of money woes.. and some non payment to signees if I remember correctly.. and I wanna say there was a lawsuit somewhere along the line too?

Needless to say, a guy like me is kinda sad that UD is almost completely out of the card business

I have to agree with CHF, UD dug it's own grave to a degree. Panini seems to be joining them. Overall the rookie hits compared to vet hits is what is killing the hobby. Unfortunately, every one wants that top rookie hit and products have become more about the lottery than the cards or players IMO. Even worse is those rookie hits when jerseys are merely photo shoot jerseys which are worthless unless of a top 4-5 rookie. We brought this upon ourselves by letting the rookie market dominate the hobby, rather than the joy of building or collecting players or cards. Game used once was dominating the hobby now they are not collected as much.

as I recall Upper Deck had a lot of redemption's in their products as well. I remember I used to average at least one redemption every 3 breaks from them. Same as Panini

I hate college uniform cards and I have no interest in them at all unless they at least mention that the player was drafted by the Packers. Even then they don't get high priority. The only sage and press pass cards I have in my Packers collection are ones that get included in lot purchases. I won't go out of my way to get them and I have started taking steps to eliminate them from my checklists so I don't accidentally spend any money on them.

Panini made kids stickers...now they make cheap kids cardboard. I wish Donruss was never sold.

I still think Panini is getting a bad rap from folks for some reason. I really don't think they've made many mis-steps, outside of cancelling Classics (my favorite set).

Some good things they've done in the past year or so:

-Panini's blog: Great "behind the scenes" stuff with a ton of killer contests. I've received prizes from I believe 3 at this point, and all pretty sizable deals.
-More on-card autos: People clamor for on-card autos, but remember, it's a trade-off. Some of the extra redemptions you see are due to the delay in getting back the physical cards as opposed to the stickers. It's not without it's flaws, but sets like Absolute, Certified and Contenders used to be all sticker products, and now it's headed to on-card. That's a plus in my eyes.
-New sets and promotions: Again, it's not 100% positive (I didn't like Timeless Treasures) but some of the new stuff like Plates and Patches, the Black Friday packs and Gold Standard all look like positive steps.

Again, it's not ALL positive, but let's not overlook the good here either!