Hi Heath,
It sounds interesting....what is the research for in particular?
I think you will need to define more specifically what / why you are researching to capture the many variables that such a broad opening statement would encompass.
For example..there are very limited manufacturers of sports cards in Australia....so annual value from the manufacturer perspective would be the easiest data obtained........but they are a limited part of the Australian card industry.....consider that there is a large import segment in the market regarding Basketball so where would this segment fit in the study.
If you look on Ebay there's about 35,000 active auction for sports cards, how do you factor this in.....then there is the $$ passing hands thru other online sites / trading communities / card shows etc
Are you including other collectibles such as Figurines / tazo's etc.
How do you factor in the card value when pricing is subjective due to supply and demand, good marketing v bad marketing (same card may sell for 20 times the price of an exact card) how do you factor in cards that are bought and sold multiple times in the one year....
That is interesting (well maybe)
I buy a pack of cards $5.00
Sell an insert TO X for $5.00
That person then sells the same card to Y for $5.00
I then buy back the card from Y for $5.00
Is that $20 of value to the Sports trading industry or $5....
Good luck...I do a lot of analysis in my line of work so am always interested in a "study" sorry to waffle on and on......but the sound from the keyboard makes me sound busy and replying to your post has filled in enough time to take me to lunch.....
Cheers
Ross