NFT-Focused Topps Abandons Plan to Go Public in SPAC Merger

The longtime trading card company pulled out of its deal following the loss of its exclusive contract to make cards for Major League Baseball.

Aug 20, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 1:43 p.m. UTC

mlbtopps — A promotional image for Topps' MLB NFT plans.

Legacy trading card company Topps has pulled out of its plan to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) following the loss of its exclusive deal to make baseball cards with Major League Baseball and MLB's players association, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

MLB and its players association instead signed an exclusive deal with sports merchandise retailer Fanatics that begins in several years.
Topps had reached a deal in April to merge with Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corp. II, a SPAC, and go public. The deal would have valued the combined company at $1.3 billion.
Topps has been looking at blockchain and the non-fungible token market to be a “growth accelerator” for the 80-year-old company.
Digital sales represent 6% of Topps’ revenue, according to Joel Belfer, a financial analyst at Guggenheim, but that could soon grow to be significantly more.

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