Trading card enthusiasts now have a reason to heave a sigh of relief and perhaps raise a brow of surprise! In a ground-breaking move to ensure transparency, Fanatics has roped in KPMG, one of the world’s leading audit firms, to verify and assure the randomness in its card distribution system. The action aims to dispel concerns about fair play that have long been simmering within the collector community.
While attending the Industry Conference in Atlanta, Mike Mahan, Fanatics Collectibles CEO, revealed that KPMG, after an exhaustive, several-month-long review, affirmed that Fanatics had robust procedures that would not allow for the intentional placement of premium cards to specific clients.
Intricate speculations about Fanatics favouring high-volume clients or renowned breakers have stirred a pot of heated debates within the collector community. The suspicions intensified with social media videos documenting breakers snagging multiple valuable cards, setting off wild conjectures about the random nature of pack contents. However, Greg Abovsky, CFO of Fanatics Collectibles, countered these insinuations and indicated that it was a simple case of statistical probability. Major breakers had greater chances of landing high-value pulls owing to the substantial volume they managed, and not because of any behind-the-scene meddling with the packing process.
The audit, conducted by KPMG, travelled deep into the Texas-based printing factory where Fanatics manufactures the cards. The audit team performed a detailed examination of the card arrangement process and perused the production logs for every task to validate that the distribution of the cards occurred in a genuinely random manner — just as Fanatics has claimed all along.
Fanatics states that this initiative is an industry first; a move motivated by a desire to debunk the circulating myths and showcase their distribution process’s integrity. They aim to reassure the collector community that there’s no trick up their sleeves and every deal is fair game.
Additionally, Abovsky made a lucid point that Fanatics has never peppered boxes with sought-after cards for enticing promotional engagements, thereby refuting another widespread belief among collectors. With the vision to make this randomness validation a regular yearly ritual, Fanatics’ motive comes to light. The company is earnest in its endeavors to broadcast their undying commitment towards transparency and integrity in their functioning.
So, let the myth-busting reality-check audit from Fanatics serve as a reassuring pat on the backs of doting collectors, and let’s hope that this sets a new precedent of responsibility and transparency in the world of trading cards. After all, ensuring a level playing field is a shared responsibility, just like the joy of pulling a rare card from a pack.
