A One-Box Tease: Panini America Busts Into the First Box of 2012 Contenders Football

Tomorrow promises to be a banner day in hobby shops across North America, what with the highly anticipated releases of 2012-13 Limited Hockey and the landmark 20th edition of 2012 Contenders Football. If there's any football product on the planet that can give Prizm-transfixed football collectors a run for their money right now, it's Contenders.

Panini America 2012 Contenders Football One Box Tease (36)

Tomorrow promises to be a banner day in hobby shops across North America, what with the highly anticipated releases of 2012-13 Limited Hockey and the landmark 20th edition of 2012 Contenders Football. If there’s any football product on the planet that can give Prizm-transfixed football collectors a run for their money right now, it’s Contenders, the home of the autographed Rookie Card.

Earlier today — actually, within seconds of receiving our marketing allotment of 2012 Contenders Football — I grabbed the first box I could get my hands and ripped it open to produce the following teaser gallery that takes you pack-by-pack through one 24-pack hobby box.

For the record, the outside of the box promises five autographs. This box delivered six (including one “Cracked Ice” parallel numbered to just 20), in addition to a broad bevy of cool insert cards. You can check out everything we pulled in this box via the gallery that follows. Oh, and after you’ve had your way with the images, be sure to peruse the complete product checklist that’s linked at the bottom of this post.

Enjoy . . .

You can access the checklist here: 2012 Contenders FB Checklist

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45 Replies to “A One-Box Tease: Panini America Busts Into the First Box of 2012 Contenders Football”

  1. nice box there! 6 autos, a cracked ice auto at that! love it! wish there were more on card like alot of contenders in the past but beggers cant be choosers! still a fav of mine! appreciate the glimpse at whats to come!

      1. Sorry, I spoke too soon. The Jordy Nelson, Aaron Rodgers, and Greg Jennings are hideous.

        But, yes, I would love to have autos from 3 of the top 21 picks, a qb that showed he can be a starter in the league, the starting rb for a great up and coming team, and a Cracked Ice auto of one of the greatest college qbs ever.

    1. If you think Case Keen um is one of the greatest college qb’s of all time, you must not watch much football.

      1. He is the all-time leader in yards, completions, tds, total yards, and total tds. He threw 9 tds in one game. He is the only qb to pass for more than 5000 yds in 3 seasons, and had 40+ tds 3 times. What more do you want? Was he a Namath, Plunkett, McNair, Ward, Frazier, Wuerffel, Leinart, Young, or Tebow- no. But he’s definitely in the next tier down. It’s not a matter of what he does or doesn’t do on Sundays, but what he did on Saturdays.

  2. AMAZING looking first box! That Rookie Stallions Andrew Luck will be a must-have once these start hitting the secondary market. Congrats on the 20th anniversary, thanks Tracy!

  3. Not bad, couple first rounders from that box. I wonder how many cracked ice parallels per case? Thanks for the sneak peek!

    1. 20th Edition parallels (cracked ice) are randomly inserted across the entire production run. no stated drop rate.

  4. Wow sweet looking cards. Quick question I know the Box breakdown says 5 hits and there was 6 in this one but it also says 2 on card, does the cracked ice replace one of the 2 on card autos?

  5. Wow, these are just jaw dropping. I love the throwback design and the addition of the cracked ice is superb. The Kendall Wright on card auto is just gorgeous.

  6. Contenders looks AMAZING!!! My daughters and I will go buy our 4 boxes we pre ordered this Saturday.We can’t wait! Keep up the great work!!

  7. So glad to see Cameron Wake in this. He is my favorite player and i love getting his cards when they come out. What are you doing with the cameron wake base card ? 🙂

  8. Nice cards! I like the Ticket theme- excellent change of pace. Will we be able to get these at Target and/or Walmart? Thanks!

  9. Was it suppose to be (2) On card Auto’s per box as stated on your sales sheets? I only see one. I know you guys changed it to (6) Autos per box instead of (5). But I hope you didn’t replace to (2) on card autos. On card Autos are what every collector is looking for in a high end product.

  10. These cards look incredible. I love the die-cut rookie of the year contenders! I’ve bought about 4-5 hobby packs of contenders every year since 2007 and I have yet to pull an auto. 2012 has been incredibly lucky for me, so I’m feeling good about this product! Can’t wait to get some!

  11. My LCS opens at 11 cst tomorrow. I will be getting at minimum of one box . “If you show me yours, I will show you mine”. I will be posting my hits on twitter tomorrow around 1 cst. Twitter id kurdawg19

  12. Very nice autos. Claiborne, Cousins, Wright, and Ballard are all solid autos. I like the looks of the cracked ice autos. The downside, these are $140 per box. I will be lucky to afford one box and get my money’s worth.

  13. Just stunning cards! Absolutely amazing. That cracked ice is a nice addition to the product! Thanks for sharing Tracy!

  14. we suppose to believe all these great looking autos came out a random box?Most of us get a box and sometimes only get one good auto and rest filled with free agents and linemen.Get real!

  15. The cracked ice are just stunning.I love this product for its auto rookies and with this years 20 year design and cracked iced just stunning

  16. Tracy, i always buy some wax of contenders but end up picking up my Bengals on ebay or local card shop. I was noticing today that alot of players have 2 versions of the same card, just positioned slightly different. Is this all players or just some?

    Thanks for the help with this!

  17. Not impressed with the box I cracked open at all. My best auto card I pulled was basic Marvin Mcnutt if that tells you how crappy this box was.

    1. Ya know I busted a case and I thought the same thing about a couple boxes but you never know what will be revealed as a short print and it might make it all worth it.

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