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Bursting bubble Baseball's labor pains damage trading card industryPosted: Thursday August 29, 2002 9:40 PM
LOS ANGELES -- Already struggling because of high prices and dwindling interest, the nation's trading card industry stands to lose even more from baseball's labor problems. Recent sales of baseball cards at Santa Monica Sports Cards, just west of Los Angeles, are typical of the industry, slowing significantly as talk of a baseball strike accelerated this season. The store has begun running raffles, contests and weekly Internet specials to attract customers, manager Darren Duong said. "It's baseball season and we should be busy," he said. "We want to expand the business, but because of the rumors of the strike we have to generate interest ... just to try to bring them into the store." The labor problems that have tarnished baseball's image are just the latest blow to an industry that once had revenue of about $1 billion a year. That was before the last baseball strike in 1994. Since then, interest in baseball trading cards has dwindled. Annual sales now are between $400 million and $500 million, said Tim Muret, vice president of marketing at Upper Deck, one of the four major manufacturers. Aaron Irmas, a 10-year-old boy from Santa Monica, said he's been following the labor talks in the newspaper and hasn't bought a baseball card in three or four months. "I'm probably less interested because of the strike," he said. "If you watch them play and they do something you like, you want the card. If you can't see any games, you wouldn't really want to collect." The industry has had trouble marketing to children for years, suffering from higher prices and a younger generation with other interests. The labor problems are like a third strike, industry analysts said. "It will hurt because those markets will lose a couple of months that is relevant to their bottom line," said Rick Burton, executive director for the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. "Baseball is a slow game in a fast age. If you take baseball off the shelf, there is something else readily available." Children comprise about half the industry's customer base, compared to 80 percent 20 years ago, according to industry experts. "The hobby is too expensive for kids," said Frank Scarduzio, who runs Bud's Sports Cards and Collectibles in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. He said only 15 to 20 percent of his customers are under the age of 18. "The average price of a pack of cards is $3.50. Most of the cards and packs are high-end, and kids just can't afford that," he said. "Kids are getting locked out." Packs that sold for 50 cents a decade ago now sell for as much as $5. Also challenging the industry is children's increasingly diverse interests, ranging from video games to extreme sports. Ten-year-old Slater Victoroff of Pacific Palisades and his 8-year-old brother, Jessie, recently spent $10.80 on two packs of "Yu-Gi-Oh" cards, which are based on a Japanese cartoon. Children collect the cards to play a game similar to Pokemon. They say they'd rather spend their money on hobbies other than baseball cards. "Not a lot of people collect baseball cards," Slater said. "I would get them if I thought a lot of people had them because it's fun to trade." The four major manufacturers -- Donruss, Fleer, Topps and Upper Deck -- are trying to hang on to what's left of the youth baseball card market. They've teamed up with major league baseball to develop a kit that includes a guide to card collecting and four packs of cards. But industry sources said the strike talk combined with the high prices probably will alienate children even more. "You can't buy cards if you don't have enough money," said 12-year-old Stephen Lazarus, who recently attended a Southern California card show with his father. "It's not really fun anymore."
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