Fanatics-owned Topps released its 2024 Topps Chrome Tennis product Wednesday, and this year’s set includes twice as many players—more than 200—thanks to a rights deal done with the Professional Tennis Players Association’s for-profit affiliate, Winners Alliance.
That agreement—pro tennis’ first group licensing deal when it was signed last year—is expected to produce yearly releases for the next two decades, delivering tennis fans and players a product that has become one of the two largest drivers of revenue—along with video games—for established associations such as the MLBPA and NFLPA. In 2020, Topps reportedly paid the baseball players group more than $20 million, for example.
Over time, the tennis deal has the potential to generate more than $100 million in royalties.
“This kind of a scale and the way we’ve done it—this is not the way things have ever operated in tennis,” Winners Alliance president Eric Winston said. “It sets everyone up to do more and more of these types of deals in the future.”
Topps Chrome Tennis licensing revenue will be equally divided among players appearing in the product, though many stars have also done individual deals to bring their autographs to the set, including Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, Frances Tiafoe and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tennis legends such as Chris Evert, John McEnroe, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, Monica Seles and Venus Williams also have autographs mixed into the product. Each hobby box, starting at $190, will include 12 packs, three of which are expected to have autographs. Certain products will also be available for purchase at this year’s U.S. Open.
However, fans hoping to collect Rafael Nadal cards will have to look elsewhere. Current world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, meanwhile, has an exclusive deal with Panini (both the tennis star and the collectibles company hail from Italy).
Players getting their first cards—including American Ben Shelton—will receive a rookie card mark. Going forward, Winston said cards can also include match-used memorabilia: racquets, balls, clothes and so on. Tournament names are not included in the set for now.
Two more tennis card products—Topps Graphite and Topps Royalty—will follow later this year.
Since being acquired by Fanatics for $500 million in 2022, Topps has expanded its product portfolio, inking deals with college athletes and national sports organizations. The company has also grown its marketing budget; Topps aired its first brand awareness campaign during the 2024 Olympics.
“It’s not just the marketing that they’ve leaned into, but also the storytelling,” Winston said. “It’s not just giving fans a piece of cardboard, but really telling a story about this player and what this card means and what it represents—I think that is vitally important and that’s a big reason why this will be successful.”
Founded in 2019, the PTPA represents singles players in the top 500 and doubles players in the top 200 of the ATP and WTA rankings. The for-profit arm was launched in 2022 after the group added $26 million in funding thanks to a raise co-led by Bill Ackman’s foundation.
