For an athlete, nothing screams “I made it” more than a sports trading card. Not only has Caitlin Clark received her own sports card, but she has also become the first female athlete to have an exclusive partnership with Panini. The Fever star’s family has an excess of Clark Panini cards that they handed them out for Halloween, much to the fans’ delight.
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Clark signed her deal with Panini in March of 2024. The contract is a multi-year deal that covers trading cards and signed memorabilia. Her first year with the company will feature her earning more than $1 million. The following years will be contingent on the amount of product created.
The deal came as a full-circle moment for the WNBA’s ROTY, as Caitlin grew up collecting cards, which her mother still owns to this day.
Panini has reciprocated Clark’s loyalty with good faith. They have given Clark and her family a large number of trading cards for their personal use. In an appearance on the Eli Manning Show, Clark revealed her father, Brent, found a perfect use of the cards on Halloween.
“I don’t even know if [my Dad] went and bought candy,” Clark laughed. “He just found the cards and was just handing them out to the kids. But then random people in the new few days just started showing up at the door asking if they could have cards. So it kinda backfired.”
Clark revealed her mother usually takes charge of Halloween duties such as handing out candy. However, this past Halloween, her mother was absent since she went to the Taylor Swift concert in Indianapolis. Her father was tasked with sharing candy but elected to give out trading cards of his daughter instead.
The cards turned out to be more appreciated than the candy, to the point that people were coming to the house hoping to get some cards.
This isn’t the only time the Clark family has handed out trading cards of their daughter. Caitlin’s mother always keeps a stash in her bag and gives it to kids who are fans of the Fever star.
Caitlin Clark trading cards will stay on the rise
Clark continues to transcend the bar for women’s basketball. In her rookie season, she broke countless WNBA records, following a historic collegiate career. Now, she transferred her dominance to the world of trading cards.
The demand for Clark trading cards is extremely high. Clark’s base Prizm rookie card currently goes for $70 on the majority of marketplaces, while the silver edition ranges around $450.
The big splash consists of Clarks’ 2024 Panini Select WNBA Signatures 1-of-1 Gold Vinyl Caitlin Clark rookie card. In December, it was auctioned off for a ridiculous $234,850. That price point made it the second-most-expensive women’s sports card ever sold.
In only one season in the WNBA, Clark’s stranglehold over the trading card market is real. As she continues to assert herself as one of the greats, the price for her cards will rise in correspondence.
