On February 22nd, 2025, Topps transformed the landscape of sports card collecting with its annual Rip Night, an event that has rapidly become a cornerstone of the hobby’s community engagement, Topps Ripped.
What began as a relatively small initiative in 2023 has grown nationwide, with over 300 hobby shops participating and drawing in tens of thousands of collectors. Many Fanatics’ ideas and initiatives have been questionable, but Topps Rip Night is not one of them. It has proved particularly successful and popular. Here is the full story of Topps Rip Night 2025.
The Topps Rip Night emerged as a groundbreaking community event in September 2023, born from a desire to reinvigorate the sports card collecting hobby.
Its inaugural event was a carefully crafted celebration beyond traditional card collecting, featuring an exclusive 20-card set distributed in select stores and attracting significant attention from collectors and sports celebrities.
The first event even saw seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady surprising collectors at the MLB Store in New York, instantly lending star power to this new collecting phenomenon.
As the event evolved, Topps Rip Night quickly transformed from a single-day celebration into a biannual tradition, the events are held in February and September. What began as a localized event rapidly expanded, growing from 212 hobby shops in its first iteration to over 400 participating locations by 2024, eventually reaching 615 shops across 16 countries by 2025.
The event’s core mission remained consistent: to bring together collectors of all ages, foster community engagement, and celebrate the passion for trading cards through rip parties, trade nights, and special giveaways.
Topps Rip Night is more than just a card-opening event. It’s a strategic community-building initiative designed to reinvigorate local hobby shops and allow collectors of all levels to engage with the hobby. Sports Illustrated describes it as “a way for the community to come together and share in the fun that is collecting.”
More than anything else, these events are perfectly tailored for the social media era. Shops hosted pack wars, trivia contests, and special giveaways. Jac Caglianone at Sports n Cards in Arizona spent three hours signing every attendee’s cards, balls, jerseys, and even Rip Night foam fingers. This was collecting in its purest form – a community coming together to celebrate a shared passion.
They gain an incredible amount of engagement and shares, and many clips go viral. It is just a PR home run for Fanatics and Topps.
This year’s event featured a carefully curated 15-card set that bridged generations of baseball talent. The checklist included established stars like Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, alongside rising rookies such as Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes. The set was designed to appeal to veteran collectors and newcomers to the hobby.
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The event varied by location, with some shops going above and beyond. House of Cards in New Orleans featured special guests like Steve Aoki and Stephon Castle. At the same time, Blue Breaks in Sarasota, Florida, hosted MLB players Adley Rutschman and Jackson Holliday.
The events are generally packed. One of the best things about them is how many kids attend. I have been to one in Los Angeles and have seen videos of several others. They are proving magnificently effective in connecting with the next generation of collectors.
Younger collectors get priority in these events, which is fantastic for everyone. They meet the athletes first, and get more attention, as they should. There is much lip service regarding doing something for the kids in this hobby. It is nice to see someone finally practice what they preach.
When more than 70,000 fans and collectors descend upon 615 hobby shops across 16 countries, many unforgettable moments can transpire, especially when over 110 athletes and entertainers attend.
In Sarasota, Florida, Blue Breaks became an epicenter of excitement as MLB stars Paul Skenes, Jackson Holliday, Adley Rutschman, and Coby Mayo arrived to a crowd of over 800 eager collectors. The players didn’t just sign autographs—they became part of the experience, tossing packs into the crowd and even hijacking young collectors’ phones to create personal videos.
Each location told its own unique story. In Riverside, California, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels was greeted with thunderous “M-V-P” chants. Phoenix saw Mike Trout personally purchasing Topps Series 1 boxes for every collector in the 200-person crowd.
At Dave & Adams in New York City’s Empire State Building, Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers joined Michael Rubin, who was completing a six-stop tour of New Jersey and New York hobby shops.
Some moments were pure magic. At Burbank Cards, WWE Superstar The Miz pulled an autographed card of The Rock – a gift to a raffle-winning young collector. In Orlando, WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton added her touch of excitement by pulling her card.
This was the first time the WWE was involved in a Topps Rip Night because until recently, Panini owned the rights to its cards. If you remember, Fanatics outmaneuvered Panini, securing an exclusive long-term licensing deal that began earlier than originally anticipated.
Initially set to take effect in 2026, WWE unexpectedly terminated its contract with Panini, allowing Fanatics to assume trading card rights through its Topps brand immediately. The deal extends beyond traditional trading cards, with Fanatics Collectibles becoming the exclusive provider of licensed WWE physical and digital collectibles.
Their presence made a significant difference to these events. Athletes have some media training, but ultimately, they are trained to perform on the field and not to handle PR. Meanwhile, wrestling is a different story. They are first and foremost entertainers and publicity machines.
The WWE model is unique. The art of WWE public relations is fundamentally about storytelling and audience connection. Wrestlers are trained to understand that their ability to “talk people into buying tickets” is just as crucial as their athletic performance.
This training involves developing a unique persona, mastering social media branding, and learning to create compelling narratives that resonate with fans. Wrestlers are coached to pay close attention to audience engagement, studying which content generates buzz and how to create authentic connections. The goal is to transform each wrestler into a marketable personality.
Therefore, the presence of WWE superstars like The Miz and Tiffany Stratton made a massive difference. They excited the kids at the event and brought them a new level of excitement. Indeed, how they were featured at these events shows that Fanatics has a clear idea of where wrestling fits in their overall strategic concept.
These events were held around the world, greatly increasing the profile of the hobby in places you would not expect. The Comic Book Store in Mumbai hosted India’s first-ever Topps Rip Night. In Milan, Soccer City Cards turned the event into a European celebration that would make any American collector jealous.
Picture Italian collectors, espresso in hand, ripping packs with the same passion they reserve for their national soccer team. The Netherlands? They took “ripping” to a whole new level. DA Card World’s European location turned their Rip Night into a party that would make Vegas look boring.
These events weren’t just about selling cards. They were about building community. A kid in Mumbai might be ripping a pack alongside a collector in Milan, both feeling that same electric moment of possibility. Will this be the card? The one that tells a story, captures a legend, becomes a piece of sporting history?
This global expansion isn’t just cool – it’s a game-changer. The days of card collecting being a purely local hobby are over. We live in a global marketplace where a rookie’s first card can create buzz from New York to New Delhi.
As the sports card market continues to evolve, events like Topps Rip Night demonstrate the enduring appeal of physical collecting. By creating a communal experience beyond mere transaction, Topps has found a formula that resonates with collectors across generations.
There have been many accusations that Fanatics have no interest in either. There is a growing sentiment that hobby shops are being intentionally pushed away from newer Topps products.
The company has secured significant backing from institutional investors like SoftBank and celebrities like Jay-Z. Some collectors have gone so far as to describe the current market as “another form of sports gambling,” with breaking culture seemingly prioritized over the traditional collecting experience.
But to their credit, Fanatics appear to be paying attention to these concerns. Aside from the Hobby Rip Nights, we also saw Topps dramatically expand its direct sales to hobby shops, increasing from just 180 to nearly 700 shops. This move is part of a broader effort to reinvigorate local collecting communities.
The company has also launched other community-focused programs to counter perceptions of being investor-centric. Fanatics now gives local card shops unprecedented access to athletes, potentially attracting new collectors.
Their Topps Rip Night events have become a centerpiece of this strategy, including deploying top athletes and entertainers to hobby shops worldwide.
We often give Topps a bad rap for various reasons, and they often deserve it. However, we are tough but fair here at Cardlines. There is no question that this is a wonderful initiative.
It helps two of the backbones of our community: the local card stores and younger collectors. By doing so, it also helps Topps. It is an alternative to their focus on breakers.
For Topps and Fanatics, Rip Night represents a calculated bet. Can they preserve the soul of collecting while embracing technological and market changes? The 615 shops across 16 countries aren’t just locations – they’re experimental laboratories testing community boundaries in a digital age.
The criticisms are valid and persistent. Yes, the market feels increasingly dominated by investors and breakers. Yes, the traditional collector can feel marginalized. But Rip Night suggests a more nuanced approach – an attempt to create a big tent where everyone from the casual kid to the serious collector feels welcome.
The inclusion of WWE talent wasn’t just a marketing gimmick. It was a strategic masterstroke. Wrestling understands something fundamental about modern collecting – it’s about storytelling, personality, and connection. In an era where digital platforms threaten to reduce collecting to mere transactions, this approach feels revolutionary.
We’re not here to hand out participation trophies. Topps and Fanatics deserve scrutiny. But they also deserve credit for attempting something genuinely difficult – keeping a traditional hobby relevant in a rapidly changing world.
Topps Rip Night 2025 isn’t the end of the story. It’s a chapter – perhaps a crucial one – in the ongoing narrative of sports card collecting.
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