Exclusive look into Leaf Trading Cards with President Josh Pankow

In the ever-evolving world of sports collectibles, Leaf Trading Cards has carved out a unique niche by focusing on affordability and authenticity that resonates with every kind of collector. Under the leadership of President Josh Pankow, Leaf made strategic decisions to invest in the future stars of sports through NIL deals, particularly in football, while also expanding into the pop culture, celebrity, and non-sport markets. ClutchPoints recently got a half-hour sit-down with Pankow for a hobby box level of insight into the company and the collectibles industry in general.

The most noticeable change comes amid a slew of NIL laws taking effect. Pankow can now pursue relationships with top high school athletes as one way to stay ahead of the more well-heeled but license-bound competition. Identifying talent for NIL partnerships allows Leaf to be first to market with rookie cards for these budding stars. Some names may still be relatively unknown to the larger audience, but that just allows loyal fans to seize upon the early investment opportunity.

“We have focused a lot on the top high school kids in the 2025, 2026, and 2027 classes. The decision was made to invest in student-athletes who are, in our minds, the next great college and potentially professional quarterbacks. We are trying to hit on as many in the top 10-15 that we can build relationships with and bring the families along for the ride,” Pankow detailed. “The hope is those relationships go beyond just a one-time business transaction, which is what this market has been for so long. It was just, ‘Hey, here's an autograph deal, here's a check' and that's the end. We are trying to build better relationships and then further invest in them.”

A bug for the napkin-relic behemoths is a feature for the customer-focused, certified-authentic Leaf. The benefits also go beyond the financial. One of the best feelings for Pankow is seeing families celebrate the realization of a dream. Every athlete wants a rookie card after all and Leaf can take time to show how those products come to life.

Leaf's long-term bet in relationships over retail

Signing a deal is a priceless moment for any prospect. The payoff goes beyond selling a case of product. Leaf gets nothing directly when it comes to resale market revenue, sure, but brand recognition and strong relationships lead to more business. Everyone seems to profit thanks to these early associations Pankow is emphasizing.

“Long term, if these kids do become the next big guys, it will be great for us because we will have had their first cards. Our customers will appreciate the fact they could invest in these kids early,” Pankow said. “They can buy these cards while they're semi-affordable because the reality is once they get to the Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow status, their cards are very, very expensive. Fans can invest in these kids at a young age. They can follow their careers on from to high school, watch them in college, and then hopefully be the next number one pick.”

The memories of watching a local kid pan out will mean more than a few extra dollars to many of the early investors. Peyton Houston's limited edition autographs are hard to come by now for example. Imagine the hype once the ESPN Top 100 QB1 is under center at a Power 4 school, for example. Those willing to part with the first card printed depicting a Heisman candidate will get a premium price.

Furthermore, Leaf is a place the NIL roster can call home for life. A least that is Pankow's goal.

“What we are trying to do is build relationships. I love having the families come by. The Houston family visited us just to see a little bit about what we do,” Pankow explained. “That's more time to get to know the parents a little bit and build a relationship with them. So again, it's more than just a simple business transaction.”

As for the customers hoping to get their hands on some product without breaking the bank, Pankow says not to worry. Leaf's model is not going to focus on those who spend five figures for a case half full of low-value base cards. The accessibility focus remains the same as Leo Messi, Clint Eastwood, and Al Capone relics or autographs are out there in $200-$300 Leaf releases.

That variety and exclusivity for history buffs are hard to beat. The older Pro Set look is there for the nostalgic sports fan. Retail boxes with sports-related autographs start at $20, while some of the hobby exclusives can be scooped for less than a pair of new sneakers. Getting someone to part ways with some of Leaf's rarest cards will perhaps be the most daunting challenge.

“The affordable thing is a lot,” Pankow stressed. “Another is that we're trying to make sure that we keep something out there that specific collectors don't necessarily want to sell. We have some unique pieces that will coveted beyond just being a fad investment.”

Knowing limits in the NIL landscape

Pankow pressed the brakes on some NIL ideas during the interview. Leaf cannot afford to run wild with a lot of costly R&D that waters down a product. Football is king in America, which is hard to see that changing soon. It's just the nature of the game, literally.

“So far the NIL venture has been football-focused. The problem with basketball is simply that it's much, much more dependent on the top talents,” the President elucidated. “A prospect can be the 10th pick in the NFL Draft. They can be the hundredth pick in the NFL Draft. If you're a good quarterback in the right spots and you end up being good, people want to buy their cards. Look at Brock Purdy. Last pick. Tom Brady was sixth round. These guys are highly sought after in the collectibles world.”

The NBA is much more star-driven. The NBA 2K25 Summer League sessions bring sold-out crowds for Victor Wembanyama and Bronny James. Some attendees at the National Sports Card Convention (NSCC) could not remember if Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller got picked second last summer, though. NFL fans knew the college home of seventh-rounders. It's just a different customer culture due to how much one player can tilt the playing field.

“In basketball, it's very rare for anyone in the second round to pan out. There are a couple, but they're typically international guys. Even in the draft, Scoot Henderson and Brandon Miller went two and three but were overshadowed, quite literally, by everyone wanting Victor Wembanyama,” Pankow laughed. “So basketball is much more of a challenge. Now, that's not to say I'm going to turn down a meeting but we're not reaching out and approaching that sport nearly as much as football.”

Keeping up with The Culture

While football is the primary NIL focus, Pankow's Leaf maintains a strong presence in the pop culture market.

“We've been doing pop culture products for the last 15 years,” Pankow boasted. “We've got hundreds of top celebrities outside of the sports world. Just recently we've had Margot Robbie, Clint Eastwood, Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, and Al Pacino. Brie Larson, Emilia Clarke. We do autograph deals with a ton of top celebrities. So that's really where we see there's more opportunity.  Efforts are into trying to license some potential movies and some TV shows. Look, we're never going to have an MLB, NBA, or NFL license because those are exclusive and they cost an obscene amount of money.”

Sporting leagues have unions but players can still sign individual deals. Celebrities and entertainment licenses can be even more complex.

“Leaf has looked at stuff like getting the rights to Saturday Night Live and Yellowstone,” admitted Pankow. “We were very close to getting the Yellowstone license, but then we were told that you can't even make cards of Kevin Costner. He cannot be associated with a trading card. That kills the deal. How do you make Yellowstone without making Kevin Costner cards?

“One issue with these things is the licensing so we can make cards of the main characters. Quite frankly, a lot of them don't understand trading cards just because that's not something that they're involved in,” Pankow sighed. “Still, we're looking at movies or TV shows that will maintain relevancy. Saturday Night Live, for example, NBC may own that brand, but they may not have the licensing rights to certain talent on the show. You have to be careful and some are a lot easier to deal with. We have to be careful with what you do but the reality is there's definitely opportunity out there for sure.”

However, Leaf has the advantage of holding enough licenses to package products in a unique way others cannot.

“We can get movies and TV shows, then combine those properties with the autograph deals already in place. That allows Leaf to make some compelling products that are still licensed. Some are not but those unlicensed products have the draw of big names from NBA, NFL, and MLB arenas. So we still have a focus on sports as well. We do a lot of multi-sport but we see the non-sport market as a huge growth opportunity in the industry.”

Acting on a whim adds more opportunities to capitalize on cultural touchpoints. Pankow was not privy to the original video but still saw the value in doing a deal with Haliey Welch.

“For example, we just did a deal with the ‘Hawk Tuah' girl. We released 1,000 of her autographs on our website and they sold out incredibly fast. That was something where Leaf can react pretty quickly. We're very versatile and it was really fun. I admittedly didn't know much about it, but it worked out great. People were very excited. So we want to continue doing cool, unique stuff like that.”

Leaf cannot rely on squeezing extra juice out of everyone's 15 minutes of fame. Those are more the cherry on top of the overall company checklists. Chances are if someone has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame they also have a Leaf product.

“Leaf has pride in the more innovative products that follow the culture, especially in non-sports and crossovers. We have a product coming out with Al Pacino and Jimmie Johnson duel autographs. Pacino played a coach in Any Given Sunday. Johnson won Super Bowls. That's a little bit different than what you'd see just from the traditional trading card companies. It's fun to be able to do. We had Rudy Ruettiger and Sean Astin on a card together, for Notre Dame fans who love the movie Rudy. Cool, unique stuff like that, in my opinion, kind of sets us apart from some of the other companies.”

State of the Industry

When speaking generally on the state of the industry, Pankow did feel broadsided by a conglomerate coming onto the scene.

“The industry has been in flux the last few years, no doubt about it,” Pankow stated. “It was fairly stable for a fairly long time. Everybody knew what to expect and then the big Fanatics monster came in. That threw a shockwave to the industry because no one saw that coming. Fanatics has the biggest sporting brands locked up because they bought Topps. They've locked up the NBA and NFL starting in about two years.”

One company locking up a market stagnated the Madden franchise. Leaf is living life in the post-2K era and plans to keep things fresh. The monopoly on the Big 3 American sports does not phase Pankow one bit.

“I mean, realistically, it hasn't had a huge impact on (Leaf). We kind of fly under the radar with stuff like that. The one thing I will say is, it's brought a lot of new eyes to the industry,” Pankow observed. “If you went to the National Sports Collectors Convention last week in Cleveland, the hobby is insanely strong. There were just thousands thousands of people there. Overall, the support for Leaf is really incredible. We love to see it and there were so many positive things.”

Again, the credit goes to Leaf's unconventional approach to giving customers pieces of art that resonate with the industry's underappreciated hobbyists. Leaf has almost as many offerings with George Washington relics and Boy George autographs as it does from NBA All-Star Paul George. And they've secured plenty of each.

“So I think what we do, honestly, is we try and hit on things the other card companies cannot do,” bragged Pankow. “We do multi-sport, which they can't do really because they have licenses. We do a lot of non-sports, which they don't focus on at all. We do a lot of the high school and niche sports, which nobody else is doing, yet. So we're trying to focus on things that are a little bit unique to the market. So that there's always some uniqueness.”

Leaf does get some of the sporting world's biggest names. Paul Skenes (Pittsburgh Pirates) is making MLB history as a rookie. There is only one company making guarantees on the next All-American Cy Young-caliber Golden Arm at an affordable price.

“One of the things that's happened in the industry over the last couple of years is everything has gotten significantly more expensive. So we tried to make sure there's an affordable option for collectors out there. We just had an Eclectic baseball box come out that retails for $140. Every other case has a Paul Skenes autograph in it. We've got a Trinity baseball box coming out which retails at $150. Every case has a Paul Skenes autograph. We're trying to make sure that there are still affordable options and it's not just every box is $400 and up with no hits.”

Why not chase the money? People are paying cases that go for more than my monthly income. Is Leaf going to lose out on easy profits by ignoring the top of the market? Well, Leaf has some high-dollar stuff but focusing on the foundation is more important per Pankow.

“Soaring costs chase out the entry-level collectors,” Pankow noted. “The hobby will suffer as those collectors suffer and honestly, those are the fans who've gotten the short end of the stick recently. We try and make sure that there's at least a semi-affordable option out there if collectors want to just buy something and have fun. It doesn't always have to be about the high-end money. That's kind of where our niches in the market.”

Leagues more likely to be seen on ESPN The Ocho have been coming on board lately, to great success. Every deal is different but Pankow is willing to listen.

“Every opportunity is a case-by-case basis when you look at it. We have the Professional Bowlers Association license, the Professional Bull Riders, and PowerSlap. We've got some smaller licenses and that's something that we're going to continue exploring. I think we're going to do a deal with the National Lacrosse League. Doing some small licenses may not make a ton of money, but it gives them a little bit of notoriety and kind of opens up for us to do more licenses potentially.”

President Josh Pankow living a childhood dream

Pankow being raised in the hobby has a lot to do with Leaf's approach. The Leaf President is living a childhood dream and has not forgotten what led to the current job title.

“So my favorite player growing up is The Kid, Ken Griffey Jr. He's the one who got me into this. My first card was his Upper Deck rookie. I grew up wanting to get a job at Upper Deck,” Pankow reminisced. “Now I've been in sports cards my entire life. Started working at a card shop as my first job in high school and stayed there through college. Then it was wholesale distributing. I ended up getting a job at Upper Deck in product development. Throughout the years, I've done a bunch of consulting and things from owning a card store to just being an online retailer.”

Now the chase cards are about relationships more than who was last seen on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10.

“Throughout the years, my favorites have changed a lot,” the Leaf President said. “I'm a big follower of a kid named Ju Ju Lewis because he was our first exclusive high school kid. An incredible kid in Georgia, just incredible. I've been fortunate enough to get to know him and his family so it's been fun just throughout the years, in terms of chasing his cards.”

Getting to help decide what gets included in a checklist brings a different level of excitement.

“I think the coolest project would be a card we did with Cillian Murphy as he won Best Actor for Oppenheimer. We had him sign 40 stickers with an Oppenheimer inscription then released that card immediately after he won the Oscar that Sunday night. It was something where we were able to react extremely fast,” Pankow explained. “I follow the Oscars pretty closely, so that was something just that was cool to be able to do right there in the moment. That's something we will try and do more where, you know, we're trying stuff that's pertinent to what's going on. But, yeah, I would say the Cillian Murphy is probably the coolest thing that I've done in the last couple of years.”

Tastes change, but the joy of collecting remains the same after decades in the industry.

“I've been at Leaf now for about three years. The thing that I collect, and what I've always been most passionate about is the non-sports and pop-culture stuff. I'm a big fan of sports, admittedly, but I've become a little numb to some of the sports cards just because I've been doing it for so long,” Pankow shared. “I've always loved what Leaf was doing even before I worked here. I used to buy a bunch of tennis products before I worked here chasing Roger Federer and Serena Williams. Then they also had Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, and Donald Trump. There have been so many cool names in the past, so kind of trying to chase some of those down. It's always been fun as well.”

As for the one card Pankow would like to have back, it was an easy answer.

“I did own a LeBron James Exquisite rookie card at one point. Those cards are now worth about a million dollars.”