By Allison Watkinson
TLL Reporter
Panini America has announced an historic partnership for trading cards and autographed memorabilia with University of Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark.
The agreement makes Clark the first female athlete to be signed to an exclusive partnership with Panini, a giant in the sports and entertainment collectibles sector.
The reason is pretty simple; Clark is quite simply the greatest scoring talent ever seen in women’s basketball, and in fact, she has scored more points than any male collegiate star as well.
Clark ranks first all-time in points scored for men’s and women’s NCAA Division I college basketball with 3,685 career points, passing Pete Maravich’s previous collegiate record of 3,667 on March 3. Clark, who recently announced that she will enter the 2024 WNBA Draft, was the consensus National Player of the Year last season in leading Iowa to the NCAA Tournament Final.
“Caitlin is a generational talent, and it is natural that she should be our first multi-year exclusive female athlete,” said Jason Howarth, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Athlete Relations. “We’ll have a range of products and memorabilia featuring Caitlin that we believe fans will love.”
The multi-year deal begins immediately, and the period of trading card exclusivity begins on April 1 this year. The first Panini products featuring Clark will be a collection of multiple cards celebrating different points in her career, including her first Panini Instant Card celebrating the moment she became the all-time leading scorer in women’s college basketball. Panini will also release a dedicated Caitlin Clark trading card product that will be available for pre-order beginning in April.
“It’s an honor to partner with Panini America as their first multi-year exclusive female athlete, and I’m excited to collaborate with them on my own collection,” said Clark.
Panini America is a subsidiary of The Panini Group, established over 60 years ago in Modena, Italy with subsidiaries throughout Europe, Latin America, and the United States.
Panini is a world leader in officially licensed collectibles, with official licenses for NFL, NFLPA, NBA, NBPA, NASCAR, FIFA, WWE, College, Disney and other key properties from many other licensors.
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