The Next Generation of Collectible Athletes Is Here

Across sports, one thing is for certain: nothing lasts forever, and the torch eventually gets passed. We’re seeing, across every sport, a generation of athletes hitting the end of the road, and the next generation is stepping up, both on the field and in the card market.

In many ways, it’s impressive how quickly we have seen these younger players step up on the court, ice, or field. There is so much more pressure now on and off the field, 24/7 news cycles, social media, etc. and these young players getting crowned at earlier ages, and yet, against all odds a lot of them are not just meeting expectations, but exceeding them.

There is so much prospecting in baseball that this sort of thing is just part of the culture of collecting. So it’s harder to say the torch is being passed, especially with the way Shohei Ohtanicontinues to dominate the market, but an amazing group of young players coming up now. For now, we’ll skip over baseball and focus on the other big five markets.

Basketball: LeBron James, Steph Curry to Victor Wembanyama, and More

LeBron James and Steph Curry have dominated both on the court and in the market for the better part of two decades. The next generation has shown they have the juice off the court and are starting to show it on the court, too.

Victor Wembanyama is coming off a Finals appearance, and while it didn’t go the Spurs’ way, we saw, as the Spurs made their run, that the market responds to Wemby in ways few other athletes have been able to accomplish. His 2023 Panini Prizm Black 1/1 in a PSA 10 sold for $5,110,000 in the run-up to the Finals making him just the eighth athlete to have a $5M+ sports card.

Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, and Dylan Harper have shown that the 2025 class is no joke either. All three will have their 2025-26 Topps Chrome Update Rookie Debut Patch Autos in the September Fanatics Collect Premier Auction, and all three will likely go for $1M+.

Football: Finding the Next Tom Brady

Tom Brady has dominated the football card market for the majority of this century. Even in retirement, Tom Brady’s cards dominate the football marketplace. With two major exceptions: Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills and Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Those two have shown they can break the chokehold Brady has on the market, as evidenced by multiple Josh Allen million-dollar sales this year. Patrick Mahomes has still seen a few top-10 sales this year and has the top football sale of all time.

2026 Topps Football Caleb Williams All Kings Insert | Topps Touchdown

However, the market has also started to pick up for younger quarterbacks like Caleb Williams of the Bears and Drake Maye of the Patriots, and we should see a fairly big chase for Fernando Mendoza of the Raiders with the first Debut Patch Autos this year in the NFL.

Soccer: From One GOAT to Another

In a lot of ways, the torch being passed from one Barcelona academy graduate to another, and them being linked by a photo of one as a baby, is the most fitting way imaginable for this to go. With an era dominated by Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Kevin de Bruyne, and others coming to an end, the next generation of Lamine Yamal, Erling Haaland, Max Dowman, and Cavan Sullivan has arrived.

For the last decade, any product that came out in the soccer market, the chase would always be Lionel Messi. For the first time in 2026, we are seeing other players surpass him, finally, in the market. Lamine Yamal is dominating in La Liga, Erling Haaland is dominating in the Premier League, and Max Dowman and Cavan Sullivan are both exceeding the hype at just 16 years old.

Yamal has been setting records en route to a Euro Championship and World Cup. Erling Haaland’s market is rebounding after an impressive World Cup. Max Dowman is setting records as a young Premier League player. And now, Cavan Sullivan has set the record for the highest MLS saleand USMNT sale.

Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli Forever Linked

In a move that stunned the Formula 1 world, Lewis Hamilton announced he would be leaving his Mercedes seat for Ferrari. One reason he couldn’t re-sign with Mercedes was Toto Wolff’s desire to get Kimi Antonelli into a Formula 1 seat.

The two will be forever linked as the Italian rookie took over the seat vacated by, perhaps, the greatest racer of all-time. Now, in just his second season in Formula 1, Antonelli is leading the Drivers’ Championship by 66 points over his teammate, George Russell, with Lewis Hamilton sitting in third, 75 points behind Antonelli.

While Hamilton has the record for the top Formula 1 sale of all-time, at The National in Chicago this year, the person who had the 2025 Topps Chrome Formula 1 Superfractor Auto 1/1 in a PSA 10 for Kimi Antonelli told us they had turned down offers up to $700,000 for the grail of the next generation.

Hockey: The Great One Finally Has a Million-Dollar Match

The hockey market has been lagging behind the other “Big 4” sports for years, but we’re seeing a rise in the market unlike anything we’ve seen before in it. While Wayne Gretzky still dominates the market, we have seen greats like Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, and others set the standard behind Gretzky.

Now, a generation led by Macklin Celebrini is starting to make their mark on the ice and off it. Celebrini became just the second hockey player ever to have a million-dollar sale when his 2024 Upper Deck Gold Outburst 1/1 sold for $1.2M at auction last month.

Behind Celebrini, the market has bought into several players, like Conor Bedard, Matthew Schaeffer, and potentially Gavin McKenna.

The future is bright in the collecting market, and no matter what sport you collect, there is a young generation ready to continue to raise the bar set by the GOATs before them.

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BRENDAN DARR

Brendan has worked for various platforms, including The Washington Post, SB Nation, NBC Sports Washington, and more, covering everything from college basketball to fantasy football and betting. An avid collector as a kid, he got back into collecting in 2021 and is a dedicated soccer, football, and basketball collector.