2023 Score Football: A Cheap Rip With Big Fun Potential [Checklist Updated]

Score is back, releasing on August 2, 2023 at $220/box. As always, this product comes heralding the start of the NFL season as the first officially licensed product for 2023.

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This release is packed with new rookies, inserts, parallels, and autographs, making it an absolute must-have for collectors and investors alike.

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2023 Score Football product introduction

2023 Score brings a lot to the table, even if “potential” isn’t at the forefront of that list. The set features a fresh crop of rookies, allowing collectors to chase after the highly sought-after rookie cards from the 2023 NFL Draft. Among the standout rookies are talents like Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, Will Levis, and numerous others, making this release particularly enticing. 

On top of that, it sure is nice to write about rookie cards before knowing how their rookie seasons shake out. This brings a lot more fun into collecting them.

Score is known for being simple. It’s the first officially licensed NFL product of the season, but most of the cards will still feature the rookies in their college jerseys. That said, a few of the autographs could feature some of the top rookies in NFL threads. 

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Score is to football what Hoops is to basketball, and the parallel sets are largely the same, too. If Optic is Target and Donruss is Walmart, you can think of Score as… well, less than that. But it includes good prices and minimal offerings. 

It’s not a sexy, high-end product, but it doesn’t pretend to be. It does something else…

It’s fun.

What to expect from Score Football 2023

Score’s hobby product is all about having a big rip session with bright cards, cool parallels and some decent-ish autograph potential. 

Each box comes with 10 packs of 40 cards, so you’re getting 400 cards per box. Each box will contain 4 autographs, 90 rookies, 10 parallels and 36 inserts.  (Suggested Score tagline: Killing trees for the RCs.”) 

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With a very deep checklist of 100 rookies, Score usually has every single rookie you could ever hope to pull. Occasionally, when an unexpected star breaks out, this can create value in its own way.

There are also base die-cuts, which fall 2 per case.

Here’s a parallel breakdown:

• Base
• Base Scorecard
• Base Showcase #’d/100
• Base Gold Zone #’d/50
• Base Artist’s Proof #’d/35
• Base Red Zone #’d/20
• Base First Down #’d/10
• Base End Zone #’d/6
• Base Gem Masters #’d One-of-One
• Base Die-Cut #’d/10

Big changes to Football Score cards for 2023

I can’t help but think of Score as a family product, one that’s cooked up as a great way of introducing young collectors to the game. Those collectors can embark on a hunt for a pretty exciting lineup of cards.

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Exclusive Inserts

Exclusive inserts, available only in the Hobby edition of 2023 Score. The chase includes inserts like Breakthrough, Hot Rookies, NFL Draft, and the all-new Men of Autumn and The Franchise. None of these will demand a big resell value, but they do at least look really cool.

Short-Printed Lenticular Inserts:

This year saw the introduction of short-printed Lenticular inserts featuring Next Up, Intergalactic, and the brand-new Showtime. These inserts are sure to be rare and highly coveted by collectors, making them prized additions to any collection.

Hobby-Exclusive Dual-Auto Insert:

One of the standout features of the 2023 Score release is the Hobby-exclusive dual-auto insert, Double Trouble. This special insert showcases thrilling pairings of some of the NFL’s most dynamic players, making it a must-have for passionate collectors.

Value of 2023 Score

Let’s look at investing in Score as a potential investment, both sealed and singles. 

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Investing in Wax:

Let’s assume the pre-order price doesn’t budge and we have a release price of $220 for this sealed product as we try to value it as a potential investment. 

With that in mind, here’s the value of sealed Score boxes for the last few years (as of 7/17):

• 2017: $1400
• 2018: $215
• 2019: $150
• 2020: $300
• 2021: $195
• 2022: $150

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So, the elephant in the room: 2017 sold for a ton thanks to Patrick Mahomes. That’s a 7x return on a $200 box. But there was only one box sold in the last month upon the time of writing, and 2017 is an outlier, either way.

When I outline the values for football products, 2019 and 2022 are always the lowest on the list because of the rookie classes. And while that still holds true here, iNot that there are only 2 boxes from the previous 6 draft classes selling for more than the 2023 preorder: 2017 and 2020.

So, at $220, it will take a phenomenal class to create any sort of valuable ROI for this product. I’d stay away from Score as a long-term investment.

Investing in Score football singles

This is a section I always include, but with Score, I’ll keep it really short: there are not many singles I’d invest in long-term. Or… any, really. 

If there’s an exception, it’s if you want an affordable rookie autograph of a big-ticket player and you’re working with a smaller budget, this might be your best option. Apart from that, though, you’d be better off waiting for other sets – even Donruss. 

No matter how great the player is, the ceiling is only going to be so high with Score. Save your individual player investments for a brand that has more potential. 

Bottom line: Should you rip, hold or pass 2023 Score Football?

2023 Score Football is not a high-end product and it doesn’t pretend to be, but that’s part of its charm and what keeps it coming back year after year.

Still, Score is perfect for the thing this hobby is truly about: ripping packs. Buy a $220 box, grab your family and friends, and go for it! What will you pull? With the release price, you can’t lose too much money on one hobby box. 

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Full 2023 Score Football checklist

Check below for the full searchable checklist of 2023 Score Football.