Behind The Wax: A Day at the NFLPA Rookie Premiere – Last week, Panini America and the NFLPA hosted their annual Rookie Premiere event in Los Angeles. The three-day event provided Panini the chance to get autographs & action photos from 40 of the top prospects in the 2016 NFL Draft Class. I convinced GTS Distribution to let me tag along for their coinciding event and have never had so much fun as a collector!
Thursday’s event was a Customer Appreciation Day where Panini & GTS brought together eight of the top NFL Rookies for a private Q&A with collectors. When I arrived, nearly 90 collectors from GTS hobby shops were already enjoying a fantastic lunch at the Hollywood venue. I spent about an hour mingling during lunch, catching up with some breakers I know and getting to know some of the shop owners and their guests.
After lunch, we moved into the hall where the Q&A was going to happen, but Panini had a surprise for us first – they brought out cases of their new “Classics” football card product and handed out a box to everyone in the room! Everyone began breaking, and I saw buyback autos, rookie cards, and even a 1/1 pulled.
At this point, a GTS representative pulled me aside and showed me to a separate room where the REAL action was happening. I turned a corner and suddenly there were Jared Goff, Derrick Henry, Ezekiel Elliott and 
others, all signing away furiously on Panini Authentic 8×10 photographs. While the rest of the event was spectacular, I probably had the most fun just watching them in that room, with the cameras off, interacting with each other.
The lineup also included Joey Bosa, Corey Coleman, Laquon Treadwell, Richard Louis, and Paxton Lynch. While there was some complaining about the number of photos to sign (Jared Goff finished signing first, about twice as fast as the next one to finish), the athletes seemed in good spirits. At one point, “Zeke” even took a minute to demonstrate what his autograph used to look like before he had to sign so many things. I can’t lie, I’m pretty jealous of the one collector who got that complete “Ezekiel ‘Zeke’ Elliott #21” auto in their gift bag on the way out.
When the players finished, they were brought into the room with the collectors and split into two groups. One group took to the couches at the front, where Panini’s Tracy Hackler hosted a Q&A. The other group went to the back couches and began to open packs and interact directly with collectors. During the Q&A, Tracy asked some fun questions, including what the players collected growing up, and who would play them in a film of their life.
After participating in both sessions, with Tracy and the assembled collectors, the players graciously stayed in the room for another hour taking photos with every single collector. I waited until the very end, not wanting to trample on the experience for the collectors who had earned the right to attend. Of course when I finally went up to the new Los Angeles Rams number one pick to get a photo, that right then is when Tracy decided “no more photos” and whisked him away! It wouldn’t be a hobby event without an Ivan #CollectFail I guess.
The excitement didn’t end there however. After the players left, nine breakers who had made the trip were rewarded with the chance to preview a case each of 2016 Panini Classics Football and 2015-16 Panini Excalibur Basketball. It was another Breakapalooza! I saw a ton of cool hits, including Karl-Anthony Towns and Kristaps Porzingas autos left and right, and some fun, classic football stars like Ickey Woods and Larry Csonka.
While the other days of the NFLPA event included photo shoots, players wearing gear, and action photos on the field, I’m grateful to have attended the GTS Distribution Customer Appreciation Day event. Despite only spending a few hours with these players, I still feel closer to them. I’m really excited now to see how they perform on the field. I am now rooting for these guys, and the fact that they took the time to participate in the day will hopefully ingratiate themselves with collectors as this NFL season progresses.
- Behind The Wax: In Defense Of 2017’s Fan Favorites Autographs - June 2, 2017
- Behind The Wax: 2017 Panini America NFLPA Rookie Premiere - May 23, 2017
- Behind The Wax: Kris Bryant’s 1st Bowman Isn’t (But Should Be) - October 24, 2016