Topps Officially Reacquires NFL License

The debut set, 2025 Topps Chrome Football, hits shelves on April 15. Chrome is one of Topps’ flagship formats across other sports, known for its clean designs and strong collector demand, so it’s a reasonable choice for a reintroduction to the NFL market.

The set includes two headline insert programs. The first is the Rookie PREM1ERE Patch Autograph, a one-of-one on-card auto featuring a swatch from the jersey a player wore in their first regular-season game. Top overall pick Cam Ward is among the featured rookies.

Also included are NFL Honors Gold Shield Autograph, which embeds gold NFL shield patches taken from the 2025 jerseys of the 2024 award winners: Josh Allen (MVP), Saquon Barkley (Offensive Player of the Year), Pat Surtain II (Defensive Player of the Year), Jayden Daniels (Offensive Rookie of the Year), and Jared Verse (Defensive Rookie of the Year).

Fanatics is also planning pack giveaways and live-breaking events at the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, which runs April 23 through 25.

Fanatics acquired Topps in 2022 for $500 million, shortly after winning future exclusive MLB rights in 2021. The company then added the NBA license in October of last year. The NFL deal, which covers both the league and the NFLPA, completes a trifecta that now gives Fanatics control over officially licensed cards for all three major American sports leagues.

Panini, which held both the NFL and NBA licenses previously, did not go quietly. The company filed an antitrust lawsuit against Fanatics, claiming the deals created an unlawful monopoly across multiple leagues and player associations. Fanatics countersued. That litigation is still ongoing, and neither the NFL nor Fanatics commented on it publicly when the announcement was made.

Whether this reshapes the football card market for resellers depends on a few factors, and it’s worth being measured about expectations going in.

Topps designs have generally been well-received by collectors compared to Panini’s recent football output, and brand preference does drive secondary market interest. Chrome Football in particular has a strong track record across MLB and NBA, with rookie chrome autos consistently among the most actively traded cards on the market. If Topps brings that same energy to football, there is a reasonable argument that the category gets a bump.

The timing also works in Topps’ favor. Panini’s reputation with football collectors has taken some hits recently. We covered the 2025 Panini Optic FOTL controversy a few weeks ago, where collectors raised concerns about box collation tells that may have given certain break hosts an advantage over participants. Panini never publicly addressed it. That kind of trust issue lingers, and it gives Topps a cleaner entry point than it might have had otherwise.