Always a great time, can’t wait to see what the 47th has in store! Until next time, Chicago!@NSCCSHOW @MantelHQ @ghostwrite

Alyx Effron | August 3, 2026

Presented By All Touch Case

Over the past three weeks, I’ve had the privilege of attending three very different conferences: Fanatics Fest NYC, the NCPG Annual Conference in Nashville, and The National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago. On paper, they couldn’t have been more different. One celebrated the passion and excitement of fandom. Another brought together the nation’s leading councils, coalitions, clinicians, researchers, and treatment providers. The third represented the largest gathering of sports collectors anywhere in the world.

And yet, I walked away from each with the exact same feeling. Hope.

When I launched Collectors MD a year and a half ago, I honestly didn’t know how these conversations would be received. I knew collectors needed somewhere to turn because, not long before, I had been searching for that place myself. I knew there were thousands of collectors quietly struggling with overspending, loss of control, and behaviors they didn’t fully understand. But I didn’t know whether the hobby would be willing to acknowledge those challenges, or whether the behavioral health community would see collecting as something worthy of its attention.

Over the past month, I received that answer. Collectors embraced us. Clinicians embraced us. Businesses embraced us. Platforms embraced us. Industry leaders embraced us. Perhaps most importantly, the conversation is no longer happening in two separate worlds. The hobby is beginning to prioritize and embrace behavioral health, and the behavioral health community is developing a deeper understanding of the modern collecting landscape.

That’s exactly where Collectors MD has found its purpose. We aren’t trying to change the hobby or redefine behavioral health – we’re simply helping each better understand the other. In many ways, we’ve become the bridge between two worlds that have needed each other for far longer than either one realized.

Throughout all three conferences, I lost count of how many people told me some version of the same idea: “We’ve been seeing this for years – we just didn’t have the language, the framework, or the partner to address it”. It has become increasingly clear that Collectors MD isn’t introducing a new problem. We’re simply providing clarity, structure, and solutions to something many people have already recognized.

What has humbled me most isn’t the growth of Collectors MD itself. It’s realizing just how many people across this hobby have decided this conversation is worth championing and are committed to leaving It better than they found it.

Meaningful progress isn’t measured by one organization – it’s measured by the growing number of people choosing to build a healthier future for the hobby together.

Over the past month alone, we’ve strengthened existing partnerships, formed countless new ones, expanded The Healthy Hobby Initiative alongside The Certified Trading Card Association, earned national media coverage, presented our work on a national stage, met with some of the hobby’s largest companies, and continued seeing #RipResponsibly embraced by collectors, creators, breakers, hobby shops, manufacturers, platforms, and organizations across the industry.

Every one of those conversations reinforced the same idea: collecting and consumer well-being are not opposing concepts. In fact, they depend on one another. A healthy hobby isn’t one without excitement. It’s one where excitement is balanced with education and safety. It’s one where businesses can continue innovating while also helping collectors make informed decisions. It’s one where parents and loved ones have access to the right tools and resources. Where collectors know support exists if they ever need it. Where responsible engagement becomes part of the culture – not because anyone is forced to adopt it, but because it’s simply the right thing to do.

One moment continues to stand out from this past week. As I walked the floor of The National, I couldn’t help but notice how many children were everywhere. They were buying cards, negotiating trades, learning entrepreneurship, building collections, making friends, and creating memories they’ll carry with them for the rest of their lives.

That’s what this hobby is supposed to be. That’s what we’re working to protect. If the next generation is going to inherit this incredible community, then we have a responsibility to leave it better than we found it. Not by removing what makes collecting exciting, but by ensuring the systems surrounding it continue evolving in ways that support the people participating in it.

When I first entered recovery, I never imagined it would lead me here. I certainly never imagined I’d spend three consecutive weeks moving between the hobby’s biggest stages, the nation’s leading behavioral health conference, and conversations with many of the industry’s most influential organizations – all centered around one simple idea: helping collectors enjoy the hobby for a lifetime.

Looking back, it’s hard not to feel grateful. Grateful for every partner who believed in us before anyone knew our name. Grateful for every collector who shared their story. Grateful for every organization willing to lead instead of follow. Grateful for every conversation that helped move this mission one step forward. Most of all, I’m grateful because, after everything I’ve seen these past few weeks, I can say something I truly believe: The future of the hobby is in good hands. Not because any one person or organization has all the answers, but because so many people care enough to ask the right questions.

This month wasn’t the finish line. It was another reminder that meaningful change happens through collaboration, curiosity, and a shared commitment to doing what’s right. And after everything I’ve experienced over these past three weeks, I can say with more confidence than ever: We’re only just getting started.

#CollectorsMD
Three conferences. Countless conversations. One shared vision. The future of collecting isn’t defined solely by bigger shows, larger audiences, or more products – it’s defined by the people committed to ensuring the hobby continues to enrich lives for generations to come. Together, we’re building that future.

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Love the fun make-your-own trading card hosted by Arena Club this year!

Come find us and say Hey!

The National Sports Collectors Convention opens in Rosemont, Illinois on July 29th.

600 plus vendors. 500,000 square feet. The largest show in the 46-year history of the NSCC. And a floor where every one of the four primary card price crash drivers will be visible in real time if you know what to look for.

The Four Crash Drivers

Speculative demand exit is the most impactful. Card Ladder data shows modern and ultra-modern cards dropped over 30% from peak when speculative participants exited after the COVID boom. Speculative money enters fast, drives prices above what genuine collector demand can sustain, and exits just as fast when returns disappoint. The National floor will have speculative premiums built into asking prices. The question is whether genuine demand exists underneath them.

Performance demand fade is the most visible right now. Last week at Fanatics Fest, soccer cards spiked on World Cup Final energy. Marketplace data shows those spikes rarely sustain past 72 hours. The National creates the same urgency. Event environments compress the timeline between desire and purchase. That compression inflates prices. Not all of those prices reflect durable value.

Population growth compressing graded premiums is the most overlooked. PSA is grading approximately 90,000 cards per day globally. Their backlog reached 10 million cards in May 2026 before Value tier submissions were paused. According to PreGradeCards research from June 2026, cards with 1,000 or more PSA 10s show significantly compressed premiums. A pop report from the show floor this week is already stale.

Supply flooding the market is the most structural. The 2025-26 Fanatics Topps NBA releases produced 429 million cards with 1.26 million copies of every base card according to Athlon Sports. Topps Chrome went from 18 parallels in 2020 to 46 last year. More product chasing the same collector dollars finds a lower price. It happens gradually and then all at once.

The Framework for The National

Before any purchase this week, two questions:

What is actually driving this price?

What kind of scarcity is behind it?

Real scarcity holds through corrections.

Speculative premiums, event markups, and high-population graded cards are more fragile than the price tag suggests.

The National is the largest stage this hobby has. It is also the most concentrated environment for all four crash drivers to operate simultaneously. Collectors who understand the patterns will make different decisions than those who do not.

Hobby IQ is co-produced by HobbyComp and CTCA, the Certified Trading Card Association, built around giving every collector the data literacy to operate in this market as it actually exists.

Know More. Collect Smarter. Stay Ahead.

#HobbyIQ #TheNational #SportsCards

#AlternativeInvestments #CTCA