Weird Stuff with Trading Cards

So...much to Corrie's chagrin, I've passed my attention to collecting trading cards onto my son. Maybe that's just a normal thing for boys my son's age---the collecting, the information on the backs, finding players you really like.

Anyway, my boy found an old football card in one of my old baseball card stacks, and started asking about football cards. I had/have probably a thousand baseball cards, and maybe a dozen football cards. He asked why I didn't have more. I didn't really have a good answer, and eventually we started a quick Internet search for where to buy current football cards. It turns out, video game retailer Game Stop sells football and basketball cards.

We strolled down to our local Game Stop, surprised them by asking about trading cards, and left with one of the new offers: thirty-packs. Score is a brand I have in the baseball variety, and today they sell big-ol' thirty-packs. Cool, I thought.

Another brand I hadn't heard of before we got on another trip, Prestige, and they also had thirty-packs. At some other trip to our Game Stop, I picked up a third type of football card, and two types of basketball cards (one was even from Donruss, a baseball card company well represented in my collection).

But something struck me as we looked at all these cards. I make a picture to describe the situation:

Above there are only 6 cards, but I've shown both sides. There are 4 different types of football cards and 2 types of basketball cards (and one even with no color on the reverse). BUT the thing that struck me is highlighted by the yellow oval-circles: the same-logo name Panini.

I was like, Wait, what? Panini makes all the cards? Makes all the cards for different, competing brands of trading cards?

The answer, after more web-sleuthing than I cared to do, was essentially: kinda. It seemed like there were two different card-production companies---Panini and Fantagraphics (sp?)---and some reports have stated that the NFL has finished their business relationship with Panini, so maybe these are the last sets that'll be available.

Anyway, it's been interesting to try and rank all the players, all while explaining to Cass that you'll get plenty of players you've never heard of, despite getting a Travis Kelce in his first football pack and a Nikola Jokic in his first basketball pack.

More junky scraps of paper to frazzle mama-bear.