In a world where high-value trading cards can change hands for the price of a luxury car, concerns about the fairness and randomness of distribution are bound to arise. After all, it’s a game of chase – a thrilling pursuit for that one rare card. So, when the sports merchandise titan Fanatics/Topps chose to address this very concern with a transparent approach, they broke new ground.

At a recent industry conference in Atlanta, Fanatics Collectibles CEO Mike Mahan announced that KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting organizations globally, had spent several months scrutinizing Fanatics/Topps’ card distribution processes. The goal? To tackle head-on community murmurs questioning whether Fanatics/Topps was favoring specific customers with luxurious, high-value cards.

Curiously, these suspicions were grown and nourished in the fertile soil of social media, where videos showed certain breakers pulling multiple valuable cards. Naturally, speculation sprouted among collectors that this wasn’t the result of luck, but a fixed game. However, Greg Abovsky, Fanatics Collectibles’ CFO, was quick to debunk these theories. According to him, the fact that prominent breakers often swap seemingly random packs for rich pickings isn’t down to underhanded tactics. Rather, it’s a simple case of volume. These breakers handle such colossal quantities of packs that they’re bound to hit the jackpot more frequently.

The audit by KPMG didn’t stop at the distribution process alone. The firm took things a notch higher, conducting an exhaustive examination at the Texas printing facility where the magic happens – where pieces of cardboard are imbued with value, transforming into treasured trading cards. KPMG scrutinized the collation process and checked the production logs for each job. These measures ensured that the distribution of these prized cards is indeed as random as Fanatics/Topps claims, without favor or bias.

In doing so, Fanatics made history, with this initiative being the first of its kind in the industry. The move was designed to put the myths to bed, offering a sort of peace treaty to the collector community.

Besides, the audit findings also helped Fanatics to clear the air on a long-standing suspicion. Many collectors had been harboring fears that Fanatics seeded boxes with valuable cards for promotional purposes. Shedding light on this, Abovsky firmly declared that Fanatics has never indulged in such practices.

In a world where transparency often takes a backseat, Fanatics’ approach is not just commendable, but revolutionary. By choosing to make the randomness audit a yearly event, Fanatics shows a commitment to maintaining not just the shine on their cards but also the faith of the community that puts them in high regard. The message from Fanatics is loud and clear – they may control the distribution, but not the destiny of the cards. Their call to KPMG isn’t just an impressive curveball in the industry, it’s a home run for fairness and transparency.

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