Early Preview Images: 2012 Fleer Retro Football

Trying to build of the popularity of the recent Fleer Retro Basketball release Upper Deck has turned their attention towards football. 2012 Fleer Retro Football is set to release February 14, 2013 and right now 20-pack (5 packs per pack) boxes are pre-selling in the $300-325 range.

Box Break:
6 Autographs
4 Inserts

After announcing the football release a couple of weeks ago we are finally getting a look at some of the cards that will be included in the set. Because this is a retro set Upper Deck has gone deep in to the Fleer product line using everything from the 1960 Fleer football design all the way up to the 2000 Skybox Autographics design. Each box will deliver a large variety of designs and should include something for everyone. Personally I am tiring of the retro fad, too often companies are turning to retro products to fill out their already bloated release schedule.

One thing that may put a damper on this release is that it is college based, without an NFL license Upper Deck is limited on what they include, and while it works with the basketball release it will be a more difficult sell in football. Basketball is more international while football is uniquely American, it also helps to have Jordan and LeBron included in basketball which football cannot replicate. I am sure that there will be some high dollar inserts pulled from Fleer Retro Football but in the end will they compete with their basketball counterparts?

If this were an NFL licensed product I would expect it to do well, maybe not $300/box well, but decent. The NCAA licensing  will still be sought after but I would think that beyond the rare inserts most cards will be well within  people's budget.

 

 

This RG3 Green Precious Metal Gems showed up online a couple of weeks ago, before Upper Deck released the 4 images above. Originally I thought that it may be legitimate but I noticed that there are a couple of things off, first is the dates. In the Red Mirror RG3 the dates above the Metal Universe logo say "12-13" where the Green Mirror below says "11-12" like the basketball versions. Additionally, the Red has just "Baylor" under his name were the Green says "Baylor University Bears".

 

The Green Mirror below appears to be a custom card made, honestly I think it looks better than the real one Upper Deck posted.