Hobby Musings: Parkside Gears Up for USWNT World Cup – Interview
Editor’s Note: Some text has been altered from original audio for clarity.
KS: Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Hobby Musings. I’m Kelsey Schroyer. Here with Matt Peek, the co-founder of Parkside Collectibles. Matt, thank you for joining us today.
MP: Thanks for having me. Always appreciate it.
KS: So, we’ll start with this. For anyone who doesn’t know, what does Parkside Collectibles do?
MP: Well, the easy, quick answer is we’re a trading card company. We started in 2019. In 2020 we signed up with the NWSL, which was our ultimate reason for Genesis. It’s why we started, was to make women’s trading cards. The idea was to represent the unrepresented. We had myself and Eric Christensen, my other founder and partner in this business, soccer dads with soccer daughters. We realized very quickly that their heroes, the people that they were watching, getting excited about watching, the league that was something that they were demanding us sit down and watch with them was not shown in the hobby light, and we decided to dive in and start a company and do something about it.
KS: So how did you start the company? It couldn’t have been easy to get that going.
MP: Everything is realistically, feasible, and doable in life. You just have to have equal parts persistence and stubbornness and stupidity. And if you have those three things and you can figure out what the right combination of them really is, you can pretty much get anywhere in this world, I think. But the real answer is we started sending some emails, trying to figure out who the right people were. The NWSL was receptive right out of the gate. They didn’t say no. They said, not yet. So in 2019, we realized that if we were going to do this, we probably should learn how to do this. So we reached out to Cartamundi. We made our first two products. We did Major League Lacrosse, which is now folded into Premier Lacrosse League, and we did BIG3 basketball and found some modest success in that, but learned a ton.
And then in 2020, we got a yes from the NWSL, and we’ve been focusing on them when looking for other really cool opportunities s along the way. The how is like anything. You take one step forward and you figure out if that’s the right direction, and if it is, you keep going, and if it isn’t, you take that step back and kind of re-center yourself and figure it all out.
KS: You and I were talking a little earlier. You’re admittedly a smaller manufacturer, kind of in the overall landscape of the trading card business. What kind of challenges do you feel like you face in the position you’re in?
MP: There’s a lot, but nothing’s overwhelmingly impossible to deal with. The biggest thing is, manufacturing is a tough beast, but I think this for every industry on the planet. You put a lot of faith into third parties, and those third parties put faith into fourth parties. And so along the way, you’re going to find amazing partners, and you’re going to find really great partners that maybe have overestimated what their capabilities are for your needs and wants. It’s just kind of mitigating expectations across all these different platforms and individuals, and then sort of really realizing that the individuals you use, while they’re wonderful people, they’re fundamentally just tools to help you get exactly what you want.
And sometimes you’ve chosen to use the wrong tool, there’s nothing wrong with that. You just have to learn from it. You have to figure out how to rebound from it and stay the course. The other big thing is hobby acceptance is a tough beast.
It’ll come around. We know it will. People are warming up to us. People are warming up to another party, entering this dance, if you will. And we’re optimistic. We’re having a blast. And we have faith that if we keep doing what we intend to do, that people will really respond favorably to it in the short term and certainly in the long term.
KS: You speak about hobby acceptance, and it’s not just in the hobby itself, but also in the sports world in general, where sometimes a women’s sports league in particular, there’s some skepticism or what have you, with the NWSL cards. What do you think was kind of the challenge there in terms of getting that off the ground and making that one kind of break on through?
MP: Oh, man. Awareness is the easiest answer. I don’t think anyone is inherently misogynistic at all. I just don’t. I think ignorance is a really, really safe place for people. So we post, hey, we’re making women’s soccer cards, and you get the traditional, who cares? And stuff like that. And we’re like, well, you don’t have to, you don’t have to care, but if you give it a chance, you’re probably going to find yourself intrigued.
There’s a beautiful thing about partnering with the NWSL. We partnered with the greatest soccer league on the planet, and that sounds like an absolutely ludicrous statement to a lot of people, but this is a league where you have more World Cup winners on each team than like it’s even fathomable. There’s twelve teams right now, and I think maybe Racing Louisville might be the only team that doesn’t have someone that’s touched that trophy. So, there’s one out of twelve.
I mean, you’ve got super teams where there’s just U.S. Women’s National Team, Canadian Women’s National Team, English Women’s National team players. It’s insanity. By partnering with them right away, we were like, we’ve got the greatest soccer players on Earth that we get to make cardboard of. That part is done. It’s over with. So, if anybody’s like, who cares? It’s like, the 40 million people that watched the last World Cup cared, and you’ll care if you give it a chance. Just have an open mind and take a gander at it. And then at the end of the day, it’s our job to do the rest. Hopefully we’re making some cool enough cardboard that people see it and get excited about owning some of it.
KS: It does feel like the women’s sports card market has really picked up traction in the last couple of years, especially for some of the sales we see with WNBA cards, with some of their bigger stars. For what you’re doing, especially with NWSL, what do you think the trend has been kind of been in the women’s sports card market?
MP: I can give you a whole bunch of different answers here. I’ll give you the one where we like to kid about it and be just like, yeah, obviously we totally foresaw this trend, which is why we’re here. And it’s only the tip of the iceberg, which most of that’s me just BSing you, but it’s kind of the truth. It wasn’t hard to see that there was a tide changing as far as perception across the country, much less the planet. And that perception obviously is going to find its way into the hobby. It’s. Just the sheer amount of people paying attention to the Women’s World Cup, the sheer amount of people paying attention to the Women’s NCAA Basketball tournament. It’s delusional for anyone to have slept on it. It’s still delusional for anyone to question why it’s popular. It’s awesome. These women are every bit of bada!$ athlete as any of their male counterparts, and they deserve our admiration and our support in these products.
And for us, it was just an absolute no-brainer. And any time someone says, did you expect it? Yeah, of course we expected it. We put our livelihood on the line here. Did we expect it to be as substantial, as fast as it has been? Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know. It’s awesome. And honestly, it’s just growing. You brought up the WNBA. That Ionescu card that sold for a grip that everybody was giddy about. That’s the basement man. Caitlin Clark is going to be a pro soon. She’s got a Bowman University card coming out. That thing’s going to be a monster. What’s that one going to sell for? We’re making the first Alyssa Thompson cards. This kid is good. That secondary market stuff. It’s awesome. It’s a great way of understanding whether or not there’s acceptance in the hobby. We have the data that just tells you there’s soccer fans around the country and around the world that are just excited to support on this side, too, and it’s rad.
KS: Well, you mentioned Caitlin Clark. I mean, just thinking next year’s WNBA draft, there’s her, there’s potentially Paige Bueckers, I think if she’s able to come out. Elizabeth Kitley is coming back for another year. You mentioned Alyssa Thompson. What do you think it’s going to take for the women’s sports card market to keep going and kind of make that next really big step where it is on that equal stratosphere. Forgive me if I’m not phrasing that right, that stratosphere with their male counterparts, do you think that’s possible? And what do you think it would take?
MP: I don’t even know if that’s a question worth our time. Look, Mickey Mantle, 1952. You’re not knocking that off its top horse. Maybe in a millennia. Not a millennia. That’s way too long. Maybe in 100 years, maybe in 50 years. We’ll look back and what is it, 2004 Fleer Ultra Diana Taurasi card will be revered as this golden piece of cardboard that everyone should have had the foresight to buy but didn’t. Maybe it’ll be the Alex Morgan 2011 MLS WPS draft card. Who knows? I
t’s already happening, and these cards are already on par with their male counterparts. There aren’t the same number of speculators in there that are willing to drive up the price on the early end, but I implore you to go out and find yourself a PSA 10 Alex Morgan soccer card that doesn’t compete with the Haalands and the Mbappes of the same ilk. And if you can find one of the really rare autographs from that same set that Alex Morgan did back when she had just left Cal and was drafted into the WPS. I think I’ve seen three of those in my entire life. And anybody that’s holding onto that piece of cardboard has a card, that in the long term, is going to be worth far more than I can care to comprehend and will break records, whether it be Goldin or whoever comes on to replace Goldin in the next auction round of stuff. So, I think we’re already there. I don’t I know that the hobby itself probably doesn’t think we’re there, but I think we’re there.
KS: So focusing more on the now, some of the athletes in the NWSL, I remember I was at the National Sports Collectors Convention last year at the Women in the Hobby booth and they were giving out promo packs of NWSL cards that you had made, and the card people were really trying to find was the Trinity Rodman card. So with that in mind, you talk about all the great athletes in the NWSL, who are some of the top ones that people are chasing.
MP: Rodman’s obvious. It’s always funny. I laugh about it because there’s this whole thing happening in the world of nepo babies and everybody’s like, how dare you take advantage of that really wonderful opportunity you’ve been afforded? People love dynasties. People love family dynasties. And she’s got it. She’s got the name. She’s a ridiculous athlete. She is carving out a path that I dare say might rival her father’s when it’s all said and done. I have a hunch she’s going to fill up at least one hand with different rings, whether it be just in the NWSL or maybe down the road, we start to see World Cup rings. Obviously it’s just medals and touching a trophy, but she’s ridiculously good. Sophia Smith, the Alex Morgans, all of the US Women’s National Team players are superstars. The beauty is the NWSL gives a rich opportunity to so many other American and international women, that we’re sort of spoiled over here.
Some fans don’t really realize just how much greatness is playing every weekend in the league. You’ve got Marta from Brazil. Is this her fifth or sixh World Cup? I mean, that’s insanity. You’ve got Christine Sinclair, the single greatest goal scorer in professional soccer. And I know that people are Ronaldo or Messi, but Sinclair is just consistently and repetitively in professional soccer, put the ball in the back of the net. It’s insane. And then you’ve got young players. You’ve got the Alyssa Thompson, you’ve got the two 15-year-olds that signed this year, and Chloe Ricketts and Melanie Barcenas. And I know I’m probably not saying her last name right, but it’s the gringo in me. There’s just so many players. You get women from small colleges that have gone into the NWSL and become superstars.
Bethany Balcer from an NAIA school, and then you’ve got these powerhouse women’s college. I’m sorry, I can get passionate about this stuff because it’s what we do for a daily job, but it’s also what we really believe in. We’ve been paying attention. Mallory Swanson has this terrible injury. She has to stop playing soccer for the first time since she’s probably walked. Chicago just so happened to have drafted these great young forwards from Penn State, Ally Schlegel and Penelope Hocking, and they have this great opportunity, which is only going to make Chicago so much better next year when Mal comes back. it’s a rad league. So many great players. There’s only twelve teams. There’s probably enough United States talent, and then the Internationals coming over, to field 30 teams like that, and all be competitive and all be ridiculously good.
It’s Long been said that if we had two US Women’s National Teams, we’d probably face ourselves in the World Cup Final. It’s true with this league. I mean, we do. United States women’s soccer is the absolute top globally, has been for 30 and 40 years, will continue to be. To get to have a tiny part of representing it, it’s so rad.
KS: You talk about your partnership with the NWSL. Now does that extend to the players, too? Like, do you get to talk with the players and have their feedback on these, get their reactions to the cards? What do they think about them?
MP: I think they like them. We tend to get a lot more player feedback from fans. Strangely. It’s really cool. Social is like this great kind of connector for us. We get a lot of fans that are like, hey, this is the first time Player X saw their card, and they loved it. And I’m like, well, let’s make sure we get some of those cards sent to Player X. We deal with the Player’s Association, and the Player’s Association is an absolute wonderful partner. Former players Megan Burke, Sydney Miramontez, they’re just so supportive, and at the same time, they’re driving us to just be better.
They know what’s at stake with every one of these cards hitting the hands of a young fan and maybe creating this moment or this memory, which is really what our truest hope is. You get a card in a pack, you take it to a game, you get an autograph, you create a memory for life. Then that memory goes into your drawer, your child finds it 30 years down the road, it becomes a dynastic memory. These things shape lives. We get really romantic about these trading cards, because we do think that they are more substantial than just an eBay listing or a Goldin Auctions post. They chronicle our lives just as much as they chronicle the athletes and the leagues that they feature.
You and I were talking before the interview. I know I could show you a Topps card from any year in your life, and you’re going to tell me what year it is. And then I’m going to start asking you where you were in that year, and how old you were, and you’re going to know it, and you’re going to be able to recall it. When we build these products, when we build these sets, we’re really thinking heavily about how this is a sign of today so that it chronicles for people moving forward where they were, who they were, how they felt, all that great stuff.
KS: Matt, we’re in 2023, about a third of the way of the year through. What does the rest of the year hold for Parkside?
MP: I’m glad you asked. So normally I would not have a ridiculous beard. I am a stubborn guy who prescribes to Stanley Cup philosophy when it comes to product release, and I refuse to shave until the product hits the shelves. Everyone in the office hates me right now because I look like a cross between, I guess, a lumberjack and the guy living in the woods.
So we’ve got our first product coming out very soon, it looks like June 1 is the street date. You said, what’s the biggest problem, the biggest impediment? Manufacturing stuff. It really is. I mean, you’ve got so many people competing for print time, packaging time, collation time, God, collation. And so a smaller company, sometimes you get pushed a little bit to the back of the line, and that’s okay.
This year, we actually did a little bit of self-imposed delay. We wanted to make sure QC was really, really top notch. We had some QC issues last year from one of our printers, so we switched back to our primary printer, who was our 2021 printer. We QC’d everything with them, like, four times before we even started thinking collation and pack-out. Then we started to look at collation, and how could we improve collation? Because we’re a small company. We want to be nimble. We want to be really responsive and hear everything.
We’ve heard collation issues. So we’re like, let’s figure this one out, and we discovered it’s math, which none of us like, but we worked on it. So we’ve got our first big core set coming out June 1. That’s the NWSL Collection, Volume One. It’s rad. We got some great signers. We got some great inserts. We’re introducing what is hopefully going to branch off and become its own product. Beechwood brands sort of are ideal for, like a multi-sport, funky… let’s just call it our Allen and Ginter if you will. Look at that set and get inspired about what the possibilities are. Topps, Fanatics, Panini, they make great stuff, and we appreciate that they’ve laid out this really rad foundation that we can sort of look at, jump on and go how can we make it better? How can we make that more interesting? And how can we make that more affordable for a younger collecting base?
We’ll do another set for NWSL. We’re hoping to do some team sets of some smaller sport leagues that we believe in. We’ve got a digital platform keeper which we are really proud of. We believe that we have integrated physical and digital in a completely unique way. We think people are going to get excited about it. As we continue to roll it out, we’re in Beta right now, we’ll probably say that we’re fully deployed around June 1. Maybe midweek of June, where we’ll have a lot of the bugs squashed. There will always be bugs.
KS: Unfortunately.
MP: And we’re going to keep on growing. I mean, we’re chasing other licenses every day. We have conversations, both foreign, domestic, about things that would make a lot of sense, that get us excited. We’re based in Los Angeles. We’ve been beating down the entertainment door, trying to find the right first entertainment property to sort of go out and do things with. We’re just going to keep on keeping on. And we’re having a blast doing it.
KS: That all sounds really great. Matt, thank you so much for joining us today.
MP: Sorry for bugging you and talking so much.
KS: No problem at all. Have a great day.
MP: Take care.
Hobby Musings: Parkside Gears Up for USWNT World Cup – Resources
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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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