Survive the NBA offseason with Contenders Optic Basketball
If you’re reading this blog/distress signal, it might already be too late. Hoops fans are running dangerously low on the sport they love. Summer League provided some aid, and the FIBA Tournament briefly provided assistance. Since Germany took gold, however, times have been tough. No games, no training camps and minimal roster moves. It’s enough to make a basketball fanatic…
The Panini America Quality Control Gallery: 2020-21 Contenders Optic Basketball
Panini America is driving another new-wax Wednesday this week with the release of both 2020-21 Contenders Optic Basketball and 2021 XR Football in hobby shops across North America. Both products are sure to be well-received but for different reasons and we'll provide Quality Control Gallery preview posts for both products over the next few days, beginning with 2020-21 Contenders Optic…
The Short Report: Panini America Reveals SPs and SSPs in 2020 Contenders Optic Football
Now that Panini America’s popular 2020 Contenders Optic Football has enjoyed the luxury of a few weeks on the secondary market, company Product Development officials are ready to reveal the set’s autograph Short Prints and Super Short Prints. As it relates to 2020 Contenders Optic Football, SPs reflect cards with print runs of 250 or less and SSPs reflect cards with print…
The Panini America Quality Control Gallery: 2020 Contenders Optic Football
Panini America's robust new-release week that began in earnest today with the release of 2020 Select Football continues unabated on Friday with the arrival of 2020 Contenders Optic Football in hobby shops across North America. A product that earned immediate acceptance by injecting the undeniable power of Optichrome into the venerable Contenders brand is at it again for 2020 with…
Panini Peek: Panini America Previews the Late-February Release of 2020 Contenders Optic Football
Panini America officials recently sent out preliminary Product Information Solicitations for several exciting new products coming soon to a hobby shop or online retailer near you. Today, we’re sharing that same information with you here on The Knight’s Lance, this time featuring the Prizm-powered Contenders Optic Football. In the extensive product preview that follows, we’ll showcase a bevy of preliminary images from…
Why Panini America’s New 2020 Contenders Baseball Just Might Be the Best One Yet
Panini America's live-today 2020 Contenders Baseball marks a striking departure in many ways from Contenders Baseball releases of the past. A product once steeped in prospect content has been fine-tuned and tightened up for 2020 to feature a checklist now rich with bona fide Rookie Card content. What that means for longtime Contenders loyalists and newcomers alike, of course, is…
The Panini America Quality Control Gallery: 2020 Contenders Baseball
Panini America's penmanship- and rookie-rich 2020 Contenders Baseball arrives in hobby shops across North America on Friday boasting a tried-and-true recipe that's been fanning collecting flames for years. Featuring a preponderance of hard-signed autographs and a checklist brimming with some of the top rookies and prospects in the game, 2020 Contenders Baseball is primed to generate heat once again this…
The Panini America Quality Control Gallery: 2019-20 Contenders Optic Basketball
OK, so it's not every day that you can use a term like "devastatingly gorgeous" to describe a set of basketball cards and get away with it. But Panini America's wildly popular Contenders Optic Basketball is not an every-day type of product. It is, in two words, "devastatingly gorgeous." That's what we called it in an Instagram post earlier today.…
Panini America Sneaks a Peek at the Highly Anticipated 2019-20 Contenders Optic Basketball
Here's one surefire way you know that collector anticipation for Panini America's upcoming 2019-20 Contenders Optic Basketball is even higher than it has been for most of this season's other new releases (which is quite telling considering anticipation for just about every product has been off the charts): An Instagram post from a few weeks back offering a pre-ink peek…
Teaser Gallery: Panini America Breaks Boxes of 2019 Contenders Optic Football
Panini America's popular Contenders Optic Football franchise released for the 2019 season last week to a ravenous collector base ready and willing to rip this year's product en masse. Once again, the product delivers a colorful, Prizm-powered counterpart to the company's annual landmark known as Contenders Football. Earlier this week, we ripped a handful of boxes to showcase just what…