Panini Blog A Visual Guide to 2014 Contenders Football Rookie Ticket Variations (Gallery)

[Panini Blog]

For most diehard football collectors, tomorrow’s highly anticipated hobby release of 2014 Contenders Football simply can’t get here fast enough. Contenders release day is a hobby holiday of sorts every year, not just because it marks the arrival of one of the category’s all-time favorite products — but also because of the excitement that begins to build immediately surrounding the product’s many Rookie Ticket Autographs variations.

That annual Contenders phenomenon promises to continue in a major way beginning tomorrow as the Panini America Product Development Team has incorporated a whole new batch of variations that will once again add heaping doses of collectiblity, mystery and a little intrigue to the pursuit of the product’s calling-card RCs.


To help collectors understand what to look for this year, we’ve compiled a complete visual checklist for the 40 players who signed on-card RPS Rookie Ticket Autographs. All 40 players appear on both a base Rookie Ticket Autographs version and a Variation 1 version. In addition, 20 of those players also appear on a Variation 2 version.

Variation 1 cards range in quantity depending on the player but many are limited to as low as 50. All Variation 2 cards are limited to 30 or fewer cards. All 40 RPS players also appear in the Playoff Tickets, Championship Tickets, Cracked Ice and Super Bowl Tickets parallels. We’ve provided a complete visual checklist to the RPS Rookie Tickets Autographs variations below.

The non-RPS Rookie Tickets Variations are easy to identify once you know what to look for — so keep reading and we’ll tell you. The front of every base 2014 Contenders non-RPS Rookie Ticket includes a vertical section, row and seat designation in silver foil that corresponds to each player’s height, weight and jersey number. The tell-tale sign to spot the non-RPS variations? When the jersey number, or “seat” designation is on the bottom. It’s worth noting that not all non-RPS players have variations.

Below you’ll find that we’ve provided some examples of that, too. Enjoy studying the gallery and stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance for continued coverage of 2014 Contenders Football.

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