Breaking made its debut and likely final appearance in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Although. It may have been one and done for the Olympics, breaking has been a staple of the card community for over two decades.
Ask most collectors and there is joy in opening a pack of cards. The anticipation, the unknown, the hope of finding your favorite player or the biggest star of the day. Those feelings have spanned generations and go back to the early days of cards being used as cigarette pack stiffeners and promotional items in the corner store.
For those unfamiliar with card breaks and breaking they are “Taking a product and dividing it into shares by team (or player), instead of by pack or box, like in a card store,” said Tom Kulczewski of Real Sportscards. Real Sportscards are breakers and hobby shops based out of Wisconsin and Minnesota.
There are many formats for breaks, however there are four primary versions that you will see most often and are team, player, divisional, and random. Team breaks will distribute all the cards for a given team that is represented on the card. A player break will award all the cards from a specific player, regardless of their current or prior teams they may have been on. With a divisional break the collector will receive all the cards that are from an entire division, such as the NFC West (49ers, Cardinals, Rams Seahawks).
Finally, a random break will use any of the previous formats, with the person purchasing an unknown spot within the break and prior to the break itself the Breaker will randomly assign each person a position and they will receive all the cards from their randomly awarded team, player, or division.
Breaking can trace its roots back to 2003 at The Backstop in Toms River, New Jersey, and Rick Delesandro. As a small portion of a 90-minute radio style show he would record and post to YouTube, Delesandro took on the persona of Dr. Wax Battle donning a wig, sunglasses and a tie-die t-shirt doing box breaks. With that breaking was born. Locally known as Rickey D, Delesandro died in June 2023.
From its humble beginnings in a small room in the back of a hobby shop, breaking has grown as the hobby has grown. The estimated Global Sports Trading Card Market was valued at $1.3 Billion in 2013, $12.98 Billion in April 2024 and is anticipated to grow from to $27.5 Billion by 2033. Breaking has and is likely to grow along with the market as a whole.
According to Kulczewski, prior to Fanatics acquisition of Topps, Breakers that were not associated with a hobby shop had to source products from distributors and other third-party resellers. Since the Topps acquisition, Breakers can now purchase directly from Topps. Customer service has also improved and when issues arise with products purchased directly from Topps, they have worked to make it right with both the Breaker and their customers. “Fanatics is doing fantastic customer service,” stated Kulczewski.
Celebrities are becoming more involved with former players like Phil Hughes (Retired Pitcher - New York Yankees) hosting their own breaks. Even those outside the sports world, like Steve Aoki breaking his own Topps designed cards and being a prolific breaker through his social media channels. This may have never been more evident than at FanaticsFest in New York City and the so called “Break of the Decade” hosted by Blez Sports Cards. The break included such stars as Peyton Manning and Allen Iverson.
Purchasing a spot in the “Break of the Decade” cost $5000 and the total value was roughly $500,000 worth of product that included 2018-19 Panini Prizm Basketball, 2018 Topps Chrome Sapphire Baseball and 1996-97 Fleer Skybox E-X2000 Basketball that was selling for nearly $13,000 a box at the time. With less than stellar results the estimated total return of an estimated $100,000 puts into light the drawbacks of participating in breaks.
A recent search of eBay resulted in more than 32,000 listings for sports card breaks. One of the recently ended listings included 2022-23 Panini National Treasures Basketball that sold for as high as $939 for a single team with no guarantee of the buyer receiving any cards.
When there is a chance of no return or a single “chase” card breaks run into a grey area of gambling and contests of chance. According to Merriam-Webster, Gambling is defined as; the practice of risking money or other stakes in a game or bet. Paul Lesko, an attorney and collector, stated that legally anytime that there is a game of chance or a prize there must be a no purchase necessary option that allows anyone to enter for the prizes awarded in that contest without the requirement of payment. Lesko added that many Breakers can work around this by including the no purchase necessary option that is attached to products offered by the manufacturers and that when purchasing into a break receiving any base cards can fulfill the obligations required by law.
There have also been incidents of breakers using sleight of hand, like a magician and swapping cards of lesser value when there is a high value card that the breaker can see prior to those watching online. Another high-profile incident happened in 2022 when Backyard Breaks stated on a Twitch stream that they were giving away cards from Panini Absolute Football and a Trevor Lawrence Gold Kaboom card was pulled that was estimated to have a value of $20,000 at the time, the hosts then stated they couldn’t giveaway such a high value card. Nearly two years later, there are still questions about the intentions of the giveaway. In discussing this with Lesko, he described a contract as needing three parts, a consideration, an offer, and an acceptance of that offer. A break that has been paid for by a customer meets all of those requirements.
The collecting hobby as a collective has seen mixed feelings about breaking and Breakers. Many feel that breaking has led to the increased cost of new unopened products or the lower availability of products at their local hobby shop or retailer. For some collectors there is an entertainment factor in the process of opening packs and that is lost watching someone else open those packs for you. Others will argue that breaking has led to more individual cards becoming available for collectors and the reduced cost of obtaining higher end products at a reasonable price. No matter what side of the breaking argument a collector lands on, is that for them to determine. For collectors that are looking to participate in breaks it is recommended that you do your due diligence, research and break with someone you trust.
As a collector of players from his alma mater, Lesko stated that he plans to join breaks in the search for Terrence Shannon Jr. as a former player for the University of Illinois. In adding a personal note, I have found that as a team collector, team breaks add to my collection without the cost of opening packs of cards to receive players I don’t care about.
“Sports cards should give you enjoyment in life… and it should be fun,” is how Kulczewski ended our conversation.
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