Apr 1, 2010
NHL Signs The Panini Group for Trading Cards
The National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) and National Hockey League (NHL) has awarded The Panini Group, and its subsidiary, Panini America, with a multi-year trading card license. The NHLPA and NHL license is the third major sports license that The Panini Group has secured since establishing a presence in the U.S. in 2009.
The 2010-11 NHL trading card season is scheduled to launch this August and Panini has tentatively marked its Score brand to be the first release under the new license. For Panini, it means the introduction to hockey of new brands such as Adrenalyn, its interactive trading card game and Certified, and the return to the hockey market of some hobby favorites issued under previous Donruss, Score, Pinnacle, and Pacific licenses.
Panini is now the only major card company in the world licensed to produce cards for 3 of the 4 major sports. The company owns the exclusive rights to the NBA, shares rights to the NFL with Upper Deck, and now shares the NHL license with Upper Deck.
