Australian rugby superstar Jarryd Hayne created an international furor during the 2015 season by making a highly publicized transition to the NFL as a member of the San Francisco 49ers. His beastly exploits early in training camp were must-see material on NFL highlight reels and riveted a nation full of fans in the land down under. Ultimately, he played in eight games during his rookie season, rushing for 52 yards and catching passes for another 27. But with today's release of 2015 Contenders Football, Hayne is creating buzz all over again.
Australian rugby superstar Jarryd Hayne created an international furor during the 2015 season by making a highly publicized transition to the NFL as a member of the San Francisco 49ers. His beastly exploits early in training camp were must-see material on NFL highlight reels and riveted a nation full of fans in the land down under. Ultimately, he played in eight games during his rookie season, rushing for 52 yards and catching passes for another 27. But with today’s release of 2015 Contenders Football, Hayne is creating buzz all over again.
Hayne was originally slated to be included with autographs in Contenders’ fabled Rookie Ticket Rookie Card subset. Ultimately, Panini America officials were unable to reach an autograph deal with the Australian star and made the decision — based on brand history and on Hayne’s international popularity — to include his Rookie Ticket cards as “No Autograph” variations. The cards were included as super-short-printed bonus hits and do not replace an autograph hit in boxes of 2015 Contenders Football.
“Dating back to 2001 Contenders Football, we’ve periodically had some rookies who we weren’t able to include in the program due to the fact that the player didn’t want to sign cards, and there is a precedent for the inclusion of “No Autograph” rookie tickets,” said Nick Matijevich, Panini America’s Director of Product Development for NFL Brands. “In this instance, we thought we were going to be able to come to terms on an autograph deal and when we didn’t, we decided that we would include Hayne as a ‘No Autograph’ SSP that would fall as a bonus hit for collectors as opposed to having a hole in the checklist. Due to his international popularity, in addition to people trying to build the set, we assume there will be an active market for these cards.”
To Matijevich’s point, one of Hayne’s “No Autograph” cards has been listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $599.95. Below, we showcase a brief gallery detailing Contenders Football’s “No Autograph” history.
Don’t forget 1999 Contenders Chris McAllister “No Autograph” cards…
…And one listed and only being at $3.25. Sorta, kinda, really lame IMO. Shoulda just left out the ‘No Autograph’.
If you quoted every (ridiculous) BUY NOW price on ebay you’d think Panini cards were worth millions!
Hayne was kept “as opposed to having a hole in the checklist” yet there are a bunch of cards between 101-200 that are missing in your checklist? A little unusual
What better way to get boxes to fly off the shelves then to create some “hype” ?
This shouldn’t be compared at all with the older “no autogaph” cards. There wasn’t even a redemption for this card. This is nothing more than a gimmick
Marketing ploy.
They can’t be SSP in my opinion as I have seen examples on ebay with no number and then a example #/49. I’d like to know what qualifies as SSP nowadays but even #/49 isn’t in my book.
I’ll pick one up in a year when they are less than $5 and get him to sign it when he comes back down-under!
Are one or two of these in Brandon Bolden’s future as well?
I vividly remember the stir around the Bradshaw no auto from a few years ago, definitely a way to get the hobby talking about the product. Thanks for the info Tracy!
Wow, Panini will always have haters. 49’er collectors probably appreciate the inclusion of this card. Set collectors may not like it but it is neat.
Can you tell me about this Glenn Dorsey 3 color Jersey/ used ball dual relic it is stamped NO AUTOGRAPH #d 16/50 it’s a 2004 Donrus ROOKIE GRIDIRON GEMS. PLEASE Anyone let me know
I got a box of 2016 contenders football it said 1 auto and 2 memorabilia and it didn’t have a auto in it what do i do to get it
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