The Multibillion-Dollar War Over Sports Trading Cards

It’s a boom time for antitrust laws. The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department are taking an aggressive new enforcement tack against companies for unfair practices and monopolization in the tech industry, the world of publishing, and more. Companies like Meta, Amazon, and Apple are all either fighting major regulatory lawsuits over their practices or bracing themselves for the inevitable. But fights over industry consolidation aren’t limited to Silicon Valley or Wall Street. One of the most eye-popping examples came earlier this month when the two largest companies in the sports-card world traded lawsuits over the future of the multibillion-dollar industry. While it may not be the most important antitrust battle of the decade, it is a useful glimpse at how one company can rise to dominate an industry.