Yes, Panini America will be producing baseball cards in 2023. Panini has held the exclusive license to produce stickered/memorabilia baseball cards since 2020 after acquiring the license from Topps. Their multi-year licensing agreement with Major League Baseball is set to continue into the 2023 season and beyond.
Panini has experienced significant growth in their baseball card business since taking over the MLB license from Topps. In 2022, they released numerous baseball card products across all levels of the hobby from value packs up to high-end memorabilia boxes. Some of their biggest 2022 baseball card releases included Prizm, Absolute, Contenders, Flawless, and National Treasures. These products all featured the latest rookie stars like Baseball Rookie of the Year Julio Rodriguez as well as superstars like Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, and Albert Pujols.
Panini’s baseball card products in 2022 received mostly positive reviews from collectors and the secondary market performed well with hot rookie cards and autographs holding strong premium prices. The success of their 2022 offerings and continued growth of the overall baseball card market indicates that Panini will double-down on baseball card production and release an even larger and more wide-ranging baseball card season in 2023.
In preparing for the 2023 season, Panini has already begun securing licensing rights and partnerships with individual MLB teams and players associations to feature logos, uniforms and player likenesses in next year’s releases. These include multi-year extensions of deals with the MLB Players Association which allows Panini to use active player names and stats on cards. Panini will also continue individual licensing agreements with most, if not all, 30 MLB franchises. Securing these vital licenses well in advance gives Panini the green light to fully design and manufacture their 2023 baseball card lineup.
Based on past release schedules and product cycles, hobby insiders and trade experts fully expect Panini to roll out their 2023 baseball card previews and releases starting in late 2022 and ramping up big in the early part of 2023. Some of the first 2023 baseball cards to likely surface will be in the form of teaser cards, box-toppers or early releases inserted in some of Panini’s late 2022 non-sports products. The official widespread retail and hobby store release period for Panini’s 2023 baseball cards will then run from January all the way through the MLB season and postseason until around December 2023.
In that release window, industry sources anticipate Panini bringing back their core flagship baseball brands like Prizm, Flawless, Contenders and Absolute again in 2023 but expanding the product lines with more parallels, memorabilia cards, and autograph variations. Panini will also seek to further grow interest in lesser known rookies and prospects with products geared towards the farm system level similar to how they elevated Logan White, Gunnar Henderson and others in 2022. Additional memorabilia-focused releases like National Treasures that smash MLB records are also expected again.
Panini’s 2023 baseball card product lineup will carry higher overall print runs and wider distribution than years past as they continue maximizing their MLB license. Retail availability is forecasted to get another major boost with Panini baseball blasting out to even more big box retailers, drug stores and large national hobby shop chains beyond just the currently stocking locations. Widescale distribution at this level supports loftier production plans for 2023 baseball cards compared to recent seasons under the Topps regime.
Of course, any long-term forecast for 2023 and beyond assumes Panini maintains the confidence and backing of MLB itself through ongoing rights negotiations. But all signs currently point to a strengthening relationship there as Panini has proven itself a more than worthy steward of baseball cards during their license tenure thus far. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, baseball industry insiders unanimously expect Panini to go full steam ahead with their most extensive baseball card year yet across the board in 2023.
In summary – yes, based on everything we know about Panini’s MLB license holding, past release patterns, secondary market performance under their operations thus far and expectations across the trading card industry, it is very safe to confirm that Panini will undoubtedly have a monumental presence in the baseball card market again throughout all of 2023. They will be releasing numerous high-end to low-end sports card products fully licensed and featuring today’s top players and tomorrow’s stars well into next season and beyond. Panini has clearly demonstrated the ability and commitment needed to strengthen their position as the sole producer of new licensed baseball memorabilia cards going forward.
