米でスポーツトレカ市場が活況、大谷翔平も取引対象に

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】米ニューヨークのグリニッチビレッジにある何の変哲もない店「ブリーカートレーディング」で、十数人の男性たちが黒いブリーフケースからスポーツ選手のトレーディングカードを取り出し、取引を始めた──新型コロナウイルスの感染が拡大する間に、趣味としてのトレーディングカードの需要が急増した。（写真は米ニューヨークの「ブリーカートレーディング」でスポーツ選手のトレーディングカードの取引を行う人々）
　この取引があった７月６日、米プロバスケットボール（ＮＢＡ）のゴールデンステイト・ウォリアーズを３度チャンピオンに導いたステフェン・カリーのカードを、サンフランシスコを拠点とする投資会社が史上最高額の５９０万ドル（約６億５０００万円）で買い取ったと発表。ブリーカートレーディングに集まった男性たちの興奮も高まっていた。
　ジュエリーディーラーのマイケル・カンポバッソさん（３８）は、この高額買い取りの発表をきっかけに自身が所有するカリーの新人時代のカードに買い手が付くことに期待を寄せている。
　カンポバッソさんは昨年２万５０００ドル（約２７０万円）でこのカードを購入したといい、「（５９０万ドルで買い取られた）カードの次にみんなが欲しがる物の一つだと思う。８万ドル（約８８０万円）なら売りたい」と語った。
　ここ数年、スポーツ選手のトレーディングカードの市場は成長している。新型コロナウイルスの感染拡大に伴うロックダウン（都市封鎖）によって再びファンが活気づくとともに、新たなファンも参入。さらに、投資家たちの存在によって価格は急騰している。
　今年２月、ＮＢＡチャンピオンに６度輝いたマイケル・ジョーダンのサイン入りの希少なカードが競売に掛けられ、１４４万ドル（約１億６０００万円）で落札された。同種のものでそれまでの最高落札価格は５０万ドル（約５５００万円）だった。
　また、４月にはレブロン・ジェームズの新人時代のカードに５２０万ドル（約５億７０００万円）の値が付いた。
　ブリーカートレーディングで取引されていたカードの多くはバスケットボール選手の物で、主催者の推計では、店にこの日持ち寄られたカードの総額は２０００万ドル（約２２億円）に上る。
　今回最も高額だった取引は９万ドル（約９９０万円）を超え、他にも野球の大谷翔平や米ナショナル・フットボール・リーグ（ＮＦＬ）の若きクオーターバックのジャスティン・ハーバートのカードなど、複数枚が取引されていた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/07/19-12:29）

Inside an unassuming store in New York's Greenwich Village, around a dozen men unlock black briefcases, remove sports cards and begin to trade them -- a growing hobby and industry that has boomed during the pandemic.
Excitement is high after a San Francisco-based investment fund announced earlier that day that it had bought a card of Golden State Warriors' basketball star Stephen Curry for $5.9 million, setting a new record.
Michael Campobasso, a 38-year-old jewelry dealer, hopes that sale will spur interest in his highly graded card of Curry from the three-time NBA champion's rookie 2009-10 season.
After that card this is probably one of his more coveted cards. I'd sell it for $80,000, says Campobasso, who paid $25,000 for it last year.
The sports trading card industry has been growing for several years but coronavirus lockdowns reinvigorated hobbyists and attracted new ones, with investors helping to send prices skyrocketing.
It's had a massive impact, Jacob Salter, product manager at Bleecker Trading which hosted the trade night in New York, said of the pandemic.
People were home, they were bored, cooped up in their house, reliving their childhood. They started buying sports cards, added the 25-year-old.
The early days of lockdown coincided with the release in April 2020 of hit Netflix series The Last Dance, about Michael Jordan's celebrated Chicago Bulls team of the 1990s.
It sent demand for Jordan memorabilia soaring and contributed towards basketball cards taking center stage in the sports trading card world, which had long been dominated by baseball.
In February this year, a rare Jordan card signed by the six-time NBA champion himself sold for $1.44 million at auction, breaking the previous record for a card of his by $500,000.
A LeBron James rookie card fetched $5.2 million in April.
Basketball cards dominate exchanges at the Bleecker Trading event, where organizer Salter estimates the total value of cards in the room over the course of the night at $20 million.
The authenticity of the cards have all been attested to by grading companies, which rate them on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the highest. Ratings factors include rarity and condition.
All of the cards are encased in see-through plastic slabs, which the traders proudly display on racks inside hard suitcases that have combination number locks due to their contents' high-value.
For 28-year-old Vahe Hekimian, collecting sports cards started as a hobby that morphed into his main source of income.
It's a passion. I love it. But I also sell to keep going, he tells AFP, explaining that sports stars' performances impact the value of their cards.
- 'Assets' -
He once paid $50,000 in a partial cash-trade transaction for rising NBA star Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks who will represent Slovenia at this summer's Olympics.
The most valuable trade of the night exceeds $90,000 and involves multiple cards, including of baseball hotshot Shohei Ohtani and young NFL quarterback Justin Herbert. Those involved want to remain anonymous.
Campobasso doesn't sell his card of Curry but he does strike a deal worth $11,000.
A 44-year-old collector calling himself Cage Lawyer, who owns a Jordan card worth half a million dollars, says trading cards are now increasingly seen as astute investments.
People view them as an alternative asset class now, something akin to art and cryptocurrency. People are looking for something to put their money in to hedge against inflation, he explains.
The frenzy is a boon for the growing number of investment groups now trading in sports cards.
Alt, which invests in untraditional assets, estimates that the trading card market is currently worth $15 billion. It splashed out the $5.9 million on the autographed Curry card.
Collectable is another company that engages in fractional ownership where investors buy shares in cards.
PWCC is a trading card marketplace that holds auctions and runs a secure vault where owners can store their cards.
It expects to do over $500 million in sales this year, roughly three times what it did in 2020, according to business development director Jesse Craig.
We're very confident that our industry is going to keep growing, he told AFP.