Would You Pay $400 For a Pack of a Future Bowman Baseball Product?

[Jaypers]

I created this thread on BO this morning, and was asked to replicate it here.

I'm sure your immediate reaction to this thread's title is likely no, but consider this proposal.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about it. Other card companies can successfully sell products from other sports with SRP's of around $500 (including Flawless basketball, which has one 3X that amount). Do you believe the Bowman brand is finally ready for a product containing ultra high-end inserts, parallels, relics, autos on minor league/Futures patches, etc, have it contain a current year's crop of draft picks (as well as the best selling prospects and rookies from past years) with a SRP of, say, $300-400/pack? Obviously the names included would have to justify this lucrative price. In this day and age, I do believe there are those who would actually be willing to drop a substantial amount for a product such as this.

By many accounts, next year's draft crop will be notably better than this year's, and could be comparable to the classes of 2005 and 2011. I was therefore curious to get your thoughts on whether this would be a worthwhile endeavor or not. This product could eventually replace Bowman Sterling or Inception - basically, a version 2.0 of either one.

The Bowman team gave me the ok to ask these message boards this question, just as a curiosity. Vote above.

If 'no', how high a price could you justify paying for such a product, assuming all of the higher-end names are in fact included?

 

[All In Cards]

I dont think so, the difference is with other sports, Hockey, Basketball & Football the rookies almost make an immediate impact on their team and in the sports card market. Most of the time the rookies in Bowman are prospects and take the time to move up the later to the big leagues.

Most of the collecting market does not follow prospects and only hear of a guy once he makes the big leagues.

 

[RStadlerASU22]

No I don't think prospect type products can get much over the levels they are. IMO they are opened the way they are because of the low buy in / chance of a big pay off. The ultra rare etc you are speaking of already exists with the SuperFractor . That plus all the other parallels I think are what a BC ect product are based around. Patch items from futures / minor league jersey items I don't think would justify much of a cost increase to prospectors.

As Andrew stated the high end products that exist now are based around proven stars and hofers as sell as RCs that do / can have an impact the year they are drafted and not enough of that happens in BB

Ryan

 

[matfanofold]

What would be considered ultra high end?

Bowman already has supers, low numbered rare parallels, and auto's with low numbered parallels.

The only thing that could really be done is do away with the base, add some gu/patches and charge $400 - $500 a pack. So I would have to say a resounding 'No'. A superfractor is still a superfractor, a /50 card is still a /50 card, regardless the odds or pack price. In order to do what you suggest it would have to deviate too far from what a bowman brand card/product actually is. And I am not so sure too many people are ready and/or willing to pay $400 - $500 a pack for a prospect type product. And if you think about it, only very few prospects are worth anything anyway. If it had a checklist of 100 prospects, 90% of them, even if you pulled a sick auto/patch card numbered to 1, would lose horribly on the purchase price.

My personal opinion is that it is a very bad idea.

 

[Krom]

For that kind of cash i want a redemption for a full GU jersey or bat with chance for fielding glove.

Even then $150 to 200 would be more realistic if they can get it right.

 

[Hawk8]

I wouldn't pay $4 a pack for it much less $400

 

[Erich]

I vote NO. How many high end prospects are there? Not many. You would have to water it down or there would just be a few guys in there, and when you water it down you piss people off or it is not a high end release then.

 

[longbomberz]

I think a more viable solution would be to cut out the base and just sell a case's worth of autos and parallels in pack form. I bet it'd sell.

 

[dbacksfan4life]

Nope.

 

[D-Lite]

I think a more viable solution would be to cut out the base and just sell a case's worth of autos and parallels in pack form. I bet it'd sell.

Ask Leaf.

Honestly, Topps has had trouble making their existing high end products worth the MSRP. How about fixing Tier One and Sterling instead of adding yet another product they probably won't get right? If they want another high end pack, it can't be prospect-based as Andrew was saying. Too volatile. The idea behind Tier One is solid, but the execution has been lacking. No one is saying they need to get minimum $150 from a $150 MSRP pack, but getting Angel Pagan and Didi Gregorius from your pack at that price sucks.

 

[Austin]

I agree with everyone else that it's a bad idea.
Prospecting is a tiny niche market and baseball draft picks are not famous, nor make an immediate impact like football and basketball products.

Also, high end baseball products work because the buyer is usually receiving stars and Hall of Famers, so even if they pull $50 cards out of a $200 product, they have cards of Major Leaguers they've heard of, instead of a 19-year-old kid who may never make it out of AA ball.

Part of the appeal of prospecting is buying $3 packs and getting the chance of pulling a future superstar's rookie card or autograph.

 

[predatorkj]

I agree it's a bad idea and the reasons above pretty much cover every arguable aspect of this conversation.

 

[BowmanChromeAddict]

Can't be done. For many of the reasons stated above (especially the immediacy of the impact of the player on the pro ranks) but specifically because Topps would have to print SO LITTLE of it for it to truly be valuable. What are they going to do to make the cards worth more than the Bowman Chrome? Insert a real Diamond? Make Superfractors out of ACTUAL Gold Leaf? The cards themselves would have to be made out of something valuable. I honestly don't understand why Flawless is able to sell for what it is currently (and the secondary market seems to be keeping the singles afloat) but clearly there is a HUGE fan base in the NBA for super rare inserts and autos. Baseball doesn't have the same international fan base that the NBA does which I think affects greatly the value of an NBA product as well. Ultimately I don't think a prospect product can really achieve what you are looking for. Honestly...the risk/reward with prospects is just too fraught with risk (so few make it) that a product that expensive would likely alienate too much of the market.

 

[MGiuseffi]

I say no. I think Bowman Sterling is a reach at the price point. If baseball had similar "True RC" that sold comparable to other sports this would work. Topps hurts itself with the bowman products making 98 percent of the topps rc worthless.

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[dano7]

Not a chance that I would pay that much.
DANNY

 

[nerdherd020]

I wouldn't pay $4 a pack for it much less $400

This.

 

[P_Manning 18]

The vote is pretty close right now. Should be pretty tight til the end.

 

[jbhofmann]

JP tell your bosses this is a simple fix.

If they produce an ultra high end prospect product, then they need to also blend in their greatest asset, their own history. Buybacks of the most iconic rookie cards like Mantle, Mays, Musial, Berra etc... would give the breaker immediate value.

The problem with basketball is also a vast majority of the greatest to ever play are still alive and sign. Baseball's immortals have been gone before most of us were even born.

Bowman/Topps needs to tap into their resources and provide substantial slabbed RCs from throughout their history and they can be labeled/numbered on the PSA flip.

Will it cost them some cash? Yeah, but Panini just spent a ton on gamers, autos, emeralds, and diamonds.

 

[BBCgalaxee]

Thanks for posting.

Honestly, the only way for this to possibly succeed would be if it's branded "bowman chrome something", has mostly first cards AND includes crazy patch autos in every pack.

Just look at inception. That's a $100 a pack for three autos (iirc).

If your pack includes autos of Buxton, taveras and a low numbered Fernandez, you LOSE money despite of the caliber of players.

If bowman sterling (chrome stock) is $50 for three autos, this $400 pack should have a MINIMUM of 10 higher end names AND at least two patch autos.

I really really really really really really really really really really hope this stays just an idea and never becomes produced.

The last thing this hobby needs is another crazy out of control priced product, especially prospect oriented!


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[BBCgalaxee]

Polls don't show up on the app (that I know of), how's it looking?

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