ESPN Gets Branded Trading Card Deal

ESPN and Upper Deck have reached a multi-year agreement to produce an ESPN-branded trading card collection.

Ken Griffey Jr.'s
ESPN-branded card by Upper Deck

Upper Deck will create and distribute cards for baseball, basketball, football and hockey. The series will launch with a 90-card baseball set in Spring 2005. Trading cards will be sold at mass retailers and hobby stores nationwide at a suggested retail price of $2.99 per pack.

Each sport-specific set will showcase the game's elite performers with themed cards based on ESPN's programming lineup, featuring shows like SportsCenter, The ESPY Awards, ESPN Classic SportsCentury, Baseball Tonight, NBA Fastbreak, and NFL Live. For example, LeBron James, who won a 2004 ESPY Award for "Best Breakthrough Athlete," will be featured on a special ESPY Award winners card.

The ESPN series also will include biographical information and statistical details on the back of each trading card.

In other Upper Deck news, the Carlsbad, CA-based company recently released its first set of Arena Football League branded cards, according to the league. Upper Deck signed a partnership deal with the AFL last June.