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A vendor shows off his wares at last month\u2019s Collectors Expo in San Antonio. Credit: Adam Poupko<\/p>\nA vendor shows off his wares at last month\u2019s Collectors Expo in San Antonio. Credit: Adam Poupko<\/p>\n
Inside a packed San Antonio Shrine Auditorium during the last weekend of June, a multi-generational crowd of collectors gathered for the San Antonio Collectors Expo with a mission: to buy, sell and showcase their prized cardboard investments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
People of all ages swarmed the floor. Young kids dressed in suits carried briefcases full of sports cards to sell. College-age browsers and grandparents perused dealers\u2019 tables stacked with trading cards bearing images ranging from Pok\u00e9mon to legendary athletes across a variety of sports.<\/p>\n
For San Antonio collectors, trading cards aren\u2019t just a hobby. They\u2019re a big business.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world of collecting has changed drastically. It went from just one or two sets a year with all base cards to high-end, numbered and autographed [cards] \u2014\u00a0and relics. And grading has kind of exploded in that time frame,\u201d said Mike Medeiros, a collector of baseball and WWE cards, who came to the Collectors Expo to wheel and deal.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
The local enthusiasm mirrors a nationwide shift happening in an industry that\u2019s existed since the 1860s and almost died out. It\u2019s revived itself over the past decades, and has been booming since the pandemic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
San Francisco-based consultancy Grand View Research estimates the sports card business will hit $14.5 billion this year and explode to $24.7 billion by 2033.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Digital marketplaces, card grading services and social media communities have played key roles, making transactions and trading more accessible and transparent, according to Grand View\u2019s analysis. Additionally, sports card companies such as Fanatics have invested in limited-edition releases, autographed cards and special artifacts to boost demand.<\/p>\n
Those special items were all over the Collectors Expo. One of the vendors showed off an autographed card for soccer legend Lionel Messi valued at $25,000. Autographed cards for Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama also were priced in the thousands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been here since \u201983, and before that, I used to do card shows. So, I\u2019ve seen a lot of ups and downs, but it\u2019s never been this big,\u201d said Charlie Dipietro, owner of San Antonio\u2019s Sports Cards Plus. \u201cThere was a big difference in money back then. I could get a Mickey Mantle rookie card from 1952. I could buy it for $800. That same card is about $100,000 1784086949.\u201d<\/p>\n
Traffic is constant at Dipietro\u2019s Lockhill Village shop. He\u2019s not just getting heavy traffic on weekends but even during the workweek. \u00a0<\/p>\n
To some degree, the increasing value of sports cards is driven by the current crop of rookies who quickly achieve star status, according to Dipietro. In 2017, waves of collectors chased the Patrick Mahomes rookie card, followed by Shohei Ohtani the next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today, Alamo City hoops fans find themselves in a similar situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, it\u2019s the Spurs and Wemby that are generating the interest,\u201d Dipietro added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brien Metzger, who co-founded San Antonio Collectors Expo, has watched the city\u2019s card culture evolve over the decades. He once operated six card shops in San Antonio and jumped back into the business in 2020 after a 25-year break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While vendors in Dallas and Houston may pull a larger cash flow due to the multiple sports franchises in each metro, San Antonio does plenty of business based on loyalty to its one pro team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we only have the Spurs, collectors are mainly passionate about the Spurs, and that\u2019s why more basketball sales are here in San Antonio,\u201d Metzger said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although rising prices for rare cards capture headlines, that\u2019s not the only reason the hobby has grown. For many, it\u2019s a family tradition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maverick Rhodes, a young collector at the Collectors Expo, first got into the hobby at age 8, driven by curiosity about his dad\u2019s childhood collection. Such stories show that even in a high-value, star-driven market, personal connections often drive the passion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rhodes remembers sharing the thrill with his dad after pulling a rare 1 out of 10 Wembanyama card from a new pack he\u2019d purchased.<\/p>\n
\u201cI screamed a couple times, \u2018Dad, Dad, I pulled a Wemby,\u2019\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kristi Ng, a staff member at the Collectors Expo, has seen parents and their children connect over the hobby.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see kids come in here who learn the value of a dollar, and learn to barter with some of these guys,\u201d Ng said. \u201cYou get parents coming in here that have no idea what I\u2019m doing, and the kid does, and he\u2019s 8 years old, and it\u2019s becoming a family tradition that dads do with their kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Antonio vendors are happy to lean on that sense of family and community. For Pepe Esquivel, president of the Baseline Bums Spurs fan group, card collecting is an extension of a lifelong sports obsession.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, being in the sports community, it\u2019s great because you meet so many kinds of people,\u201d he said while selling cards at last month\u2019s expo. \u201cI\u2019ve met brain surgeons, dentists, doctors, people that work in the Spurs community, and then you\u2019ve got the normal everyday person.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Esquivel, those interactions at card events are most rewarding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know this doesn\u2019t even feel like work. Honestly, I could be here and not make money, and I\u2019m fine with it. I\u2019m here for the community to talk to people first, and then of course, the money will come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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