The WNBA season is currently underway, creating unprecedented excitement among fans and card collectors who are eagerly anticipating what promises to be a groundbreaking year for trading card releases. With superstar players like Caitlin Clark, A’Ja Wilson, and newcomer Paige Bueckers taking center stage, collectors are anxiously waiting for the first wave of cards from this season to hit the market.
The excellent news for enthusiasts is that Panini Instant provides fans with the unique opportunity to acquire cards featuring major moments and highlights as they happen throughout the season in real-time. This innovative on-demand service from Panini captures the most significant highlights and memorable moments throughout the entire season, beginning with the highly anticipated WNBA Draft and continuing through playoff competitions.
Panini America achieved tremendous success with their Instant product line during last season, which marked Caitlin Clark’s inaugural year in the professional league and established new benchmarks for card sales. Not only did it become one of the most popular card releases in recent memory, but a parallel signed Clark 1-of-1 card from Draft Night commanded an impressive selling price of $84,000 when it was auctioned in September.
Panini Instant cards hold exceptional importance for the WNBA market and may even be more crucial than similar products in other professional sports leagues. In women’s basketball, players typically transition directly from college to the WNBA without significant downtime between seasons, creating unique challenges for card manufacturers and collectors. This compressed timeline doesn’t provide Panini with adequate time to develop and bring new products to market, as creating a comprehensive new card release requires extensive planning and production time.
According to Jason Howarth, Panini’s senior vice president of marketing and athlete relations, Panini Instant serves a vital role in their strategy because it enables them to engage consumers in collecting ‘W’ products and generate excitement around women’s basketball merchandise. When Panini finally released their first comprehensive product in August of last year, consumers were already primed and ready to make purchases, demonstrating the effectiveness of the Instant strategy.
This season, collectors won’t have to endure long waiting periods to get their hands on the first official WNBA trading card products of the year. There are five different WNBA sets scheduled for release this season, representing an all-time record for the league and demonstrating the growing commercial viability of women’s basketball collectibles. The newest addition to the lineup will be Donruss WNBA, which is scheduled for release in July and promises to bring innovative design elements to the market.
Donruss has established a strong reputation in the modern collectibles industry, particularly in football where collectors can find the highly popular and sought-after Downtown insert cards. The popular Downtown inserts will soon feature WNBA stars in this summer’s release, bringing the same excitement and collectibility that has made them successful in other sports.
Howarth explained that Donruss will provide an excellent platform for showcasing the Downtown insert concept, stating that it will be a perfect fit for highlighting WNBA talent. Panini has been systematically building the WNBA collectibles market since taking over the trading card license in 2019, transforming what was once a niche market into a thriving segment. Previously, there might have been only one product released per year, typically a complete factory set with limited autograph opportunities, and according to Howarth, those products generated approximately $50,000 in annual sales.
Panini has revolutionized the WNBA trading card collecting space by creating more traditional pack-based products that give collectors opportunities to hunt for parallels, rare cards, and authentic autographs. As the WNBA continues to gain popularity and mainstream recognition, demand for trading cards has increased dramatically, particularly over the past year when Caitlin Clark emerged as the face of the league.
Howarth noted that there was actually a period when WNBA Prizm cards were selling for higher prices on the secondary market compared to NBA Prizm cards, which demonstrates the incredible demand better than any other metric. He believes that while WNBA cards have always had a place in the collectibles portfolio, there has been significant migration and crossover from collectors of other core sports to the ‘W’, and now it’s viewed as part of that core sports group alongside NFL, NBA, and MLB.
This year’s products will feature a completely different approach and expanded offerings compared to previous seasons, with five WNBA products scheduled for release, up from three products in the previous season. Last year witnessed the debut of Panini Prizm (including the Monopoly version), Origins, and Select, while Panini had previously released Revolutions in earlier years, establishing a foundation for the current expanded lineup.
The release schedule is always a work in progress as the brand team determines the right pieces that fit together for each season’s offerings. One thing they knew they needed for Clark’s rookie season was to bring Prizm into the WNBA market, as it has become Panini’s flagship card brand and one of the most sought-after rookie cards across all sports.
Having a rookie class like they had last year without Prizm would have been a complete oversight for both Panini and collectors, according to Howarth’s assessment. It would have been one of those decisions that people would look back on and wonder why Caitlin Clark didn’t have a Prizm rookie card or why Angel Reese didn’t have a Prizm rookie card, creating a significant gap in the collectibles market.
As the WNBA continues to grow in popularity, creating familiar household names and generating new superstars, the league continues to make its mark across multiple platforms. From the NCAA tournament exposure, to the WNBA Draft coverage, and then the beginning of the actual WNBA season, the momentum continues to build throughout the year.
While big names like Clark and Reese made significant impacts during last season and generated tremendous collector interest, there are no signs of the momentum slowing down anytime soon. This year’s rookie class is equally exciting and promising, according to Howarth, who has observed strong collector interest from both a collecting standpoint and from the Draft Night cards that were released several weeks ago.