Short Story: Panini America Begins Leaking 2013 Contenders Football SP Quantities

It’s a phenomenon that takes place every year at about this time. Almost immediately following the release of a new year of Contenders Football, the annual frenzy commences as collectors across North America begin scrambling and scouring to determine the relative scarcity of the set’s ample selection of Rookie Ticket SPs and variations.

It’s a mesmerizing chain of events to be sure, and one that explains, for instance, how a base Rookie Ticket SP of Detroit Lions receiver Corey Fuller can sell for a staggering $290.85 one day while his Variation SSP sells for a whopping $350 just three days later. Indeed, it didn’t take savvy researchers long to figure out just how short Fuller’s super-short-printed variation RC is.

To help provide a a little insight into the SP/SSP craze surrounding 2013 Contenders Football, below is the first of what promises to be many 2013 Contenders Football SP lists. This one is by no means complete, but it does provide a tip-of-the-iceberg illustration of Contenders’ scarcest Rookie Tickets and RC variations. The following list is broken into SPs (cards with quantities of 200 or less) and SSPs (cards with quantities of 50 or less).

Oh, and if you’re looking for a surefire visual tell-tale to differentiate the base Rookie Tickets from the variations, you can find it on the backs of the cards (check out the image below). The base versions include stars around each player’s card-back NFL helmet. The variations do not.

Now, let’s get to the SPs and SSPs: