Hobby Musings: Leaf’s CJ Breen, Blue Mountain State, New Licenses, More – Interview
Hobby Musings: Leaf’s CJ Breen, Blue Mountain State, New Licenses, More – Interview Transcript
Editor’s note: Some text has been changed from original audio for grammar and clarity. C.J. is the Director of Marketing & Athlete Relations for Leaf Trading Cards.
Check out Part 1 of this interview here.
KS: Something we had talked about at the National briefly, I believe you broke it with us at the National, Blue Mountain State Cards. Now you’ve released some more details about it. What more can you tell us about it?
But you’ll see some amazing inscriptions. I can’t share what the inscriptions are, but, if you are a fan of the show, you know, some of the key quotes and phrases and scenes from the movie are going to have inscriptions. In this product, you’re going to have ‘cookie race’ die-cuts, which is a, you know, a hilarious scene in one of the first episodes you’re going to see, you know, ‘Keg Stand’, which is, you know, a beer keg. It’s a fun product. It’s not your traditional product where you know you’re going to get the same designs in your flagship products. You’re going to get new die cuts and new designs you’ve never seen before. And I think that is a refresher on the hobby. And not everything has to be, you know, traditional. And I think that is why people are maybe drawn to this product.
KS: So, this isn’t like just doing a deal with an athlete, like an autograph or anything like that. There are obviously different types of licensing involved with something like this. Is it any more challenging putting a product like this together as opposed to, you know, like Pop Century or a basic sports product?
CB: It’s definitely a little bit more challenging now getting everything approved and going through the licensor or a licensee. Getting everything approved, getting, you know, photos from the show and movie and, you know, there definitely is a lot more hoops. And I think that maybe the end consumer doesn’t realize the hard work behind the scenes and five different people you have to go through to jump through hoops to get it done. But it definitely isn’t as easy, as a normal Pop Century. But then you have the benefits with it being licensed and the logos and the niche and that nature, so it is very rewarding. I know our team has put, you know, numerous hours and months into this product, so I’m just happy to see that people also agree with the product.
KS: One of Leaf’s calling cards, one thing the company prides itself on is being the first to do certain things, whether it’s autographs or specific types of cards. With a brand like this for Blue Mountain State, what reward is there in that, do you think, when you’re giving people things for that first time?
CB: You know, I’m a fan first and foremost of the show, and I think a lot of people can relate to the show growing up with it. You know, a lot of it’s an introduction to a lot of, you know, 20-year-olds or 18-year-olds going to college and you’re like, this is the expectation. Like, I think this is what college is going to be like. And opening that product with their friends now because they watched it in high school and college. For me, why it’s rewarding is I remember sitting down and watching the show with my dad and we’re just laughing out loud, and I think a lot of people are also going to have that moment where like, “hey dad, let’s open this box of cards, let’s re-live” the time we had and, you know, share a good laugh and maybe rewatch the show. Why I think it’s so important right now is that they’re rebooting the show in 2025. A lot of new characters in the new movie and new TV show. So, we’re super excited.
KS: I know you can’t reveal too much yet, but that being said, do you have a favorite card in this product so far from what you’ve seen?
CB: I do! It’s one of the inscriptions. But besides that, I think my favorite is the, the triple autograph. Ed Marinaro, Urban Meyer, and Nick Saban. I think that card is so cool, in my opinion, just being a fan of college football and then being a fan of the show, you get the best of both worlds in one. And then knowing coach Marty Daniels, which is Ed Marinaro, personally, I just he just thinks it’s so cool. And he’s a great guy. And just, I definitely would be hunting that card.
KS: For sure I can’t wait to see them come out. Shifting gears a little bit, another new product you have coming out is for National Lacrosse League. What more can you tell me about that?
CB: Wow. That product is going to be super fun. They’ve never had I they believe I did. They did an early set, early, early 2000. And there’s not many of them out there. And you can look on eBay of what these commons sell for some of these commons sell for $30 or $40. And they’re not some of these players aren’t even in the Hall of Fame in the league.
So, when now you have a product with autographs, multi-signed, game used, I think it’s going to really resonate with fans. And then maybe not the fan or collector that likes lacrosse, but they’re intrigued because they don’t want to miss out on the next great thing. They saw what we did with pickleball, and then those guys got in early, were rewarded by they were able to make money off of the product, and then collectors were able to jump in and finally collect their favorite player. A lot of these players have never had cards. 11 players have never had, you know, rookie patch autos.
So I think there’s going to be a lot of fun, unique things. Our anticipation, hopefully the product will be out, you know, towards the end of the season, we’re going to do our very best to get the product out by the end of their regular season. Going into the playoffs. The way lacrosse works, for the many people that don’t know there’s two major leagues with the NLL being the indoor season. They just had their draft. And it’s a funny statistic for you guys is that the Buffalo team outsells the Buffalo Sabers, which is the NHL team. They have more consecutive sellouts for the Buffalo Bandits than the Buffalo Sabers. So the fan base is there, and I’m super excited for them to finally get cards, be able to collect in a unique way that they’ve never been able to do.
I think these cards are going to shock people on some of the resale value, and we’ve already had tons of people asking about release dates, so overall, you know, review and from the, you know, the Twitterverse and Instagram has been super strong. So we’re super excited for that one.
KS: Overall, I know I’ve seen some lacrosse card rumblings, you know, looking on social media. Shout out to my buddy Todd Tobias who loves this stuff. But when you do a product like this, what is the risk of it? Or to your point of the earlier products having value, is it something where it’s like, let’s just give people something they haven’t had in a long time?
CB: You know, at the end of the day, you know, some things work, and some things don’t. But like, I think that’s why our collector base likes Leaf, because it gives them the option to collect something that wasn’t there before. And I think that’s really important, you know, for us, it’s not always about, you know, the, making a buck. It’s also about giving back to the community and what they want. I think that this is going to resonate with a lot of lacrosse fans that didn’t have cards. And, you know, if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.
But at the end of the day, I think that we’ve had the tools and resources and along with the league that to make this successful, so we’re going to put a lot of effort into this and make sure that those who are true, you know, aficionados of lacrosse have something that they can be proud about. And when they go to the card stores and, and card shows like, hey, do you have lacrosse cards now there’s actually an option for them. And maybe now that gets more people into the hobby.
KS: Speaking of another brand where there’s not necessarily a lot out there, table tennis, you’re also doing something with that, what more can you tell me?
CB: So, it’s interesting table tennis because a large portion of the fans and collector base are overseas and in Asia, particularly and they go crazy over it. And with the Olympics being, you know, just had and you see all the viral moments of the table tennis highlights and you’re like, how is this even possible? And I think it just takes one viral moment to get it going. And I think that we’re able to create special moments where these cards are going to be very relevant. You know, we have the Olympics in the US coming soon. So, I think that’s just an added bonus where people are going to have more eyeballs on it, you know, moving forward.
KS: So, who are some of the top names we should expect in that product?
CB: You know, we’re still pinning down, the checklist and talking with the league. The league is, you know, very, easy to work with. They are you know, giving us direction. Myself and others aren’t, you know, experts. And that’s why we’ve partnered with them because they know, exactly what the table tennis fans want. The top players, they’re going to, you know, put us in position to be successful with having the best names.
And what I will add is Josh Pankow, who is the President of Leaf, is a master table tennis player. He actually played in college for the club team at Georgia. And is actually nationally ranked as an amateur as you know, you know, 12, 13, 14-year-old kid. So, I haven’t seen him play, but I am going to hold them to him that, you know, that he’s a stud. Because everywhere we go that, you know, he’s always, bringing that up. So we’re super excited for that one. I know he is as well.
KS: I’ll get you out of here on this. You mentioned the love of the sport overseas. Is this a product? Now, obviously you’re making it for all collectors. You know, whether it’s in the United States or across the world. But if you had to guess, where do you think most of the sales, whether it’s direct resale, what have you, do you see it leaning more towards in the United States or more internationally?
CB: I think majority will be in the United States, but I can see definitely a lot of overseas people buying it from the US side and trying to get it over there. I think that it’s going to shock people. It’s going to be super limited. So, there’s not going to be a lot of it out there. So, I do think that it’s going to shock people, and I think people are going to have the same reaction where they don’t want to miss out.
Yeah, like the first pickleball, like there was none of it. There was, it was short. It wasn’t a lot out there. The resale value was there. And I think it’s going to be such an affordable price that, oh, I see that at, you know, Card Collector 2’s shop. I’m going to take it. Oh yeah. Like they might just think of as a joke, but like then they go to resell them. They’re like, I can make money doing this. Let me grab another box. You know, let me make a cool TikTok video. I just think that the possibilities are endless. And, you know, I’m super intrigued to see the reception about them when you see the cool cards and cool designs that our team is able to come up with.
KS: Definitely. We’ll have to see how it all does. CJ, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you so much for your time.
CB: I really appreciate it and look forward to more amazing Leaf products coming soon!
Hobby Musings: Leaf’s CJ Breen, Blue Mountain State, New Licenses, More
Kelsey’s ability to bring hobby coverage to the mainstream sports fan has been a true asset. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on collecting in Hobby Musings. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.
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