It is hardly news that collecting Victor Wembanyama cards is both very popular and very expensive. Even cards of Wembanyama that aren't autographed can command massive sums of money on the secondary market, and the Spurs' current playoff run has done little to dampen that enthusiasm for his cards.
However, it is still wild that Wembanyama's 1/1 black prizm parallel rookie card from 2023-24 Panini Prizm just sold for a record sum of $5.11 million.
First, congratulations to whoever pulled that card. That is truly life-changing money, and if some millionaire/billionaire collector wants to spend that kind of dough on a piece of cardboard, go for it. However, it is these sales and others like that that are creating a really big problem for the longevity of the hobby, because where there is big money to be made, big money is spent to try and make it.
Unfortunately, that means that many collectors are going to get priced out of card collecting altogether.
Victor Wembanyama's record-breaking Spurs rookie card sale is a bad industry trend
Look, we know that the days of getting packs for less than a dollar are long gone. The Junk Wax Era was an unfortunate reminder that printing a ton of cheap cards with no regard for print runs can destroy the hobby for years. However, what we are beginning to see now is the exact opposite, and it threatens collecting as a whole.
Right now, a very small number of cards/players drive demand for sports cards (this is also true when it comes to Pokémon cards and other types of cards, but that is a topic for another day). Whether it is Rookie Debut Patch 1/1's, super short-printed inserts, NBA Logoman 1/1s, NFL Shield 1/1s, or the new-ish Gold Logoman cards of MLB award winners, rabid collectors go crazy chasing the biggest names.
While that has done wonders for the short-term growth of the hobby, it has also driven prices through the roof. As from some blasters, if you are lucky enough to find them in Target on delivery day, younger collectors and those with less means just can't participate in a meaningful way. While the whales of the world are buying up cases at prices that are at least double what they were a few years ago (if not more), kids and beginners can't even find a pack that has much of a chance at an auto. Online drops have helped a little bit, but they are often sold out in minutes.
What the actual solution is is unclear. Fanatics doesn't exactly have much of an incentive to change anything since they are making money by the truckload right now. One just hopes the powers that be recognize that this isn't sustainable. At some point, the hobby is going to run out of people willing to buy and sell cards for any appreciable amount at all, simply because the barrier to entry is too high.
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