Conference school::sports_memorabilia

    Glenn, don't they look just like last year's ?
    
    John
    

    I saw them last nite @.75 per pack,I was just about to buy 1 pack when
    the dealer said there limited this year,I looked at him and started to
    laugh,at that time I put them back in the box and told him that I'll
    wait till they flood the market,then I could pick up a box for under
    $10.00,am I right or wrong ?
    
    John M.

    They are supposedly making less, but I'm sure you can find them for
    50cents/pack soon enough... 

    
    I bought a box at Sam's for $20.76, so I doubt you'll see them
    at .50/pack.  Direct cost is probably up in the high teens.
    
    I think they are nicer than last year, although the fronts are
    very close to previous years, boarderless, same logo, etc.
    The improvement in my opinion is the stock is a higher quality
    and (slightly) thicker than previous years.  Also the backs are 
    real nice, with a solid white background, kind of reminded my of 
    hoops basketball, crisp.
    
    I guess the fact that there were more than a few super bowl
    highlight redskins cards may have clouded my opinion somewhat ;-)
    
    I'm not thinking of putting together a set right now, any of you
    team collectors interested in splitting up the box with me?  I'm
    gogin to keep the skins, but the rest are up for grabs for a
    nominal cost deferment charge.
    
    BTW, I did not get a single one of the supposedly 4 randomly
    inserted holograms.  Guess Sam's didn't get one of those special
    limited numbered hobby cases.
    
    jeff
    
    

    Jeff,
    
    I am not sure if this is appropriate (mod, feel free to delete it), but
    I sent you an All-in-one note taking you up on your offer to split the
    box.  I am not sure that I sent the letter to the right place, or even
    that I did the sending correctly.  I thought I'd post this just in
    case.
    
    Catherine
    
    Receptionist @ MWO

    
    I got your mail Catherine, will pull out some 9-ers for you and
    let you know what I have.
    
    jeff
    

PRO SET FILES FOR PROTECTION
by Jim Mitchell

reprinted without permission from Friday's "Dallas Morning News" Business Section

Pro Set Inc., facing the pending loss of two major sports licenses, Thursday 
sought Chapter 11 protection from creditory.

Pro Set officials said the filing was taken after the trading card company
received letters from two licensors threatening to terminate agreements with Pro
Set because of the company's failure to pay royalties.

"This action was taken in order to protect our ability to continue to do
business",daid Robert J. McLaughlin, Pro Set's cheif executive officer.  "Under
Chapter 11, we will maintain all licenses which are the foundation of our 
business."

Addison-based [a suburb of Dallas]Pro Set produces NFL, NHL, PGA, music and 
movie entertainment trading cards under licensing agreements.

Mr. McLaughlin declined to identify the licensors who had threatened to end 
their agreements with Pro Set.  However, an attorney for the NHL Players Assoc.
said Pro Set was "millions" of dollars behind in payments to the players union
from last season and appeared unable to make the payments in the near future.

"The players determined that Pro Set could not function as a card company and 
did not want to go through another season of uncertainty," said NHLPA attorney
John McCambridge.

In its filing in Dallas, privately held Pro Set listed $26.4 million in assets
and $55.2 million in liabilities, including about $23 million owed to more than
600 unsecured creditors and $35 million in secured debt, believed to  be owed
to the company's bankers, J.P. Morgan & Co. and Texas Commerce Bancshares Inc.
The banks could not be reached for comment.

Pro Set's filing lists its largest unsecured creditor as the NHLPA, owed
$1.7 million.  NHL Services Inc. is owed $1.6 million, and NHL properties, the
league's marketing arm, is owed $666,185, the filling shows.

Other large creditors include the Professional Golf Tour, $716,230; National
Football League Players Association, $522,901; and Walt Disney, $116,990.

The bankruptcy filing is the latest setback for the three year-old Pro Set, 
which recorded more than $100 million in sales last year but was unprofitable.
Mr. McLaughlin has said the company spent heavily to promote its card products 
and employed a corporate staff twice as large as other trading card companies of
similar size.  Pro Set's sales are expected to be about $80 million the result 
of higher than expected dealer returns of trading cards and a sluggish economy.

Two weeks ago the company's lenders forced out Pro Set's president and founder
Ludwell Denny.  Last week Pro Set fired 186 workers, about 42% of it workforce,
and put up for sale its headquarters building in Addison.  The company said it
plans to move the remaining 50 corporate employees to its printing press 
facility in Garland.