Iowa women’s basketball guard Caitlin Clark has inked a multi-year deal with Panini America, the world’s largest sports and entertainment collectibles company.
This is Panini’s first exclusive partnership with a female athlete that includes trading cards and autographed memorabilia, according to a release. Clark’s memorabilia exclusivity begins immediately, and trading card exclusivity will begin on April 1.
Clark previously partnered with Topps, a collectibles company best known for its baseball trading cards.
“It’s an honor to partner with Panini America as their first multi-year exclusive female athlete, and I’m excited to collaborate with them on my own collection,” Clark said in a release.
The first Panini products featuring Clark, the projected No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft, will be a collection of multiple cards celebrating different points in her career. Clark’s first Panini Instant Card celebrates the moment she surpassed Kelsey Plum to became the NCAA women’s basketball all-time leading scorer.
Panini will also release a “dedicated Clark trading card product” that will be available for pre-order beginning in April.
Panini has official licenses for the NFL, NFLPA, NBA, NBPA, NASCAR, FIFA, WWE, Disney, and other key properties from many other licensors. Panini is also the exclusive trading card and sticker partner of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Elite 11, and Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc.
“Caitlin is a generational talent, and it is natural that she should be our first multi-year exclusive female athlete,” Senior Vice President of Marketing and Athlete Relations Jason Howarth said in a release. “We’ll have a range of products and memorabilia featuring Caitlin that we believe fans will love.”