Guard Caitlin Clark of the Iowa women’s basketball team signs a multi-year NIL contract with Panini America.
The world’s largest sports and entertainment collectibles firm, Panini America, has signed guard Caitlin Clark of the Iowa women’s basketball team to a multi-year contract.
According to a release, this is Panini’s first-ever exclusive collaboration with a female athlete, and the agreement includes trading cards and autographed memorabilia. Exclusive trading cards will go up on April 1st, and Clark’s memorabilia will go live immediately.
Previously, Topps—a collectibles firm widely known for its baseball trading cards—and Clark collaborated.
As Panini America’s first multi-year exclusive female athlete, Clark stated in a release, “It’s an honour to partner with them and I’m excited to collaborate on my own collection.”
A set of numerous cards honouring various moments in Clark’s career will be the first Panini product to feature the expected first overall choice in the WNBA Draft. The moment Clark overtook Kelsey Plum to take the record for most points scored in NCAA women’s basketball is commemorated on her first Panini Instant Card.
Additionally, a “dedicated Clark trading card product” from Panini will be launched and put up for pre-order in April.
Panini holds formal licences from numerous other licensors for the NFL, NFLPA, NBA, NBPA, NASCAR, FIFA, WWE, Disney, and other major properties. The Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Elite 11, and Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc. have exclusively partnered with Panini to produce trading cards and stickers.
Senior Vice President of Marketing and Athlete Relations Jason Howarth stated in a release that “Caitlin is a generational talent, and it is natural that she should be our first multi-year exclusive female athlete.” “We think fans will love the variety of products and memorabilia featuring Caitlin that we have in store.”
