Collectors MD is proud to announce a new strategic partnership with The 77NineNine Foundation, an athlete-focused organization dedicated to supporting the mental, emotional, physical, financial, and personal well-being of athletes and their families beyond the field of play.

The partnership brings together two organizations working from different parts of the same larger conversation. Collectors MD focuses on compulsive collecting, overspending, gambling-adjacent behaviors, prevention, peer support, education, recovery, and healthier engagement within modern collecting environments. 77NineNine Foundation is building a broader support system for athletes navigating the pressures that can exist away from competition – including mental health, financial literacy, addiction, career transitions, family support, nutrition, mentorship, and life after sports. 

Together, the organizations will explore ways to create stronger pathways between athletes, families, education, peer support, and professional resources. For Collectors MD, the partnership is especially meaningful because athletes and the modern collectibles ecosystem increasingly intersect. Current and former athletes are not only featured on cards and memorabilia. Many participate directly in collecting, breaking, live commerce, investing, content creation, appearances, autograph markets, brand partnerships, and other parts of the hobby. At the same time, athletes can face many of the same pressures that affect collectors more broadly – financial decision-making, identity, impulsivity, competition, chasing, social pressure, high-risk spending, addiction, and the emotional challenges that can accompany major life transitions.

That overlap creates an opportunity for education before harm occurs. Collectors MD and 77NineNine will begin by developing clearer referral pathways between the two organizations so individuals and families can be connected to the resource best positioned to support their needs. 

The goal is not to duplicate existing services. It is to build stronger connections between them. If an athlete or family encounters concerns involving compulsive collecting, overspending, gambling-adjacent behavior, or gambling-related harm, Collectors MD can provide specialized education, peer support, and pathways to additional care. Likewise, when someone within the Collectors MD community needs broader athlete-focused support involving mental health, financial wellness, career development, family resources, or other areas within 77NineNine’s scope, the partnership can help create a more direct bridge.

This approach reflects one of the principles Collectors MD continues to build around: People rarely experience challenges in isolated categories. Support systems should not operate that way either.

One of the most immediate areas of collaboration will be education and curriculum development. 77NineNine is currently developing programming designed to support athletes across multiple dimensions of wellness, and Collectors MD will explore how its existing resources and expertise can be thoughtfully integrated into that work. That could include education around compulsive behavior, financial harm, gambling-adjacent mechanics, warning signs, intentional decision-making, peer support, recovery resources, and understanding when a hobby or purchasing behavior may be beginning to create problems.

Importantly, the goal is not to tell athletes – or anyone else – that collecting itself is the problem. Collectors MD is not anti-hobby. Collecting can create community, nostalgia, identity, connection, enjoyment, and meaningful relationships with sports, athletes, and culture. The focus is on helping people better understand their own behavior and giving them the information and support necessary to make informed decisions about how they participate.

That same philosophy can extend into 77NineNine’s developing app, where the organizations will explore opportunities to make Collectors MD resources, educational materials, peer-support pathways, and additional support options accessible directly within the broader athlete-wellness ecosystem.

The partnership will also explore a series of quarterly webinars and workshops leading into 77NineNine’s future summit programming. These sessions can provide athletes and families with opportunities to become familiar with Collectors MD, learn more about topics involving gambling, collecting, financial decision-making, compulsive behavior, recovery, and prevention, and begin engaging with these conversations before a crisis occurs. 

That early engagement matters. Too often, people are introduced to resources only after significant financial, emotional, relational, or behavioral harm has already occurred. Prevention works differently. It creates familiarity before the resource is urgently needed. It gives people language for what they may be experiencing. It helps families recognize warning signs. And perhaps most importantly, it makes asking for help feel more normal.

Beginning in 2027, Collectors MD Founder Alyx Effron will participate in the planning process for 77NineNine’s future summit programming, providing input around content, education, prevention, and the ways these emerging behavioral-health conversations can be incorporated into the broader athlete experience. 

The organizations will also continue exploring opportunities around joint programming, speaking, fundraising, grants, and corporate support where their respective missions and expertise can strengthen the impact of a project. This is particularly important because the challenges facing athletes, collectors, and families often span multiple systems at once. Financial literacy can intersect with gambling. Gambling can intersect with collecting. Collecting can intersect with identity. Identity can intersect with career transition. Mental health can influence all of them. No single organization needs to solve every part of that equation. But organizations can become much more effective when they know where their expertise ends and where a trusted partner can step in.

That is what makes this partnership especially exciting. 77NineNine is working to build a support system around the person behind the athlete. Collectors MD is working to build healthier pathways around the person behind the collector. In both cases, the objective is much bigger than simply responding after something goes wrong. It is about building education, awareness, accountability, support, and access into the environment from the beginning.

Collectors MD is grateful to Samantha Amaral, Mike McGlynn, Will Amaral, and the entire 77NineNine Foundation team for welcoming this conversation and for recognizing the potential to bring these resources into the athlete community. We are excited to continue developing the partnership, building stronger referral pathways, exploring educational programming, and finding new ways to support athletes and families both inside and outside the modern collectibles ecosystem. Because whether someone is an athlete, collector, parent, creator, entrepreneur, or fan, the principle remains the same: The person matters more than the product, the purchase, the game, or the outcome. And support should be available before someone reaches their breaking point.

If you’d like to learn more about Collectors MD, explore our resources, or discuss opportunities to collaborate, contact us at info@collectorsmd.com.

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