U.S. sports fans reared on the NFL notice the differences in the Canadian Football League: the larger field, more men on the field, three downs instead of four, higher scoring.
Even the trading cards are different.
Eleven companies hold licenses for NFL cards. Jogo, in its 14th season, is the only producer of CFL cards. Parkhurst, Topps and O-Pee-Chee once did sets.
According to Jogo's John Bradley, it's a labor of love. The owners have day jobs. Bradley and Barry Goodman work for the city of Ottawa, and John Soklowski is a systems engineer.
"We don't care if we don't make a fortune," Bradley says. "We want to break even to keep this alive."
While NFL players are paid for money generated through licensing and card sales, CFL players pay for their cards. Jogo charges $50 for 500 cards.
"They'll give them out," says Bradley. "They love it. . . . No one questions $50."
He says players who balk initially often change their minds when teammates in the first series get their cards.
That's what happened in Baltimore. B. K. Williams, out with a ruptured Achilles' tendon since August, contacted Jogo. "He said everybody's asking for cards," Bradley says. "He sent me a picture of him in a Baltimore hat. He says he wants to be on a card."
He's in the 90-card third series along with Mike Pringle, Donald Igwebuike and most of the CFLs. There are 26 of them in the 310-card set.
Bradley says 2,000 sets of the first two series were produced. The third series, which should be ready for shipping this week, had a shorter print run.
Jogo also produced a 22-card set so the 22 players in the preseason CFL caravan would have cards to give out. The CFLs' Tracy Ham is in this set. His card has the team logo but no team nickname.
The players aren't the only big Jogo fans.
"We have a lot of collectors who collect all Penn State players," Bradley says, so they're always sure to include as many Penn State alumni as possible.
The CFLs will be selling Jogo cards in their Memorial Stadium store. Call (410) 554-1010, ext. 3052.
Ultra football has Flair
Fleer's Ultra football Series II has 200 basic cards, including 51 rookies and 56 free agents and traded veterans. The 27 cards in three insert sets are super-premium Flair and carry the Flair logo.
Upscale Classic
Classic Games goes premium with Classic Images Football, limited to 1,994 cases. The set has 125 cards, including 35 rookies. Inserts include All-Pros and preview cards for Classic's NFL Experience cards, due in January.
Topps basketball
Topps basketball returns this month with a 198-card Series I. Each card will also be issued in a gold-foil-stamped version and a foil-backed, foil-stamped version. Subsets include All-Stars and players photographed from "eye-in-the-sky" cameras. There are also exchange cards redeemable if the player pictured leads the NBA in the designated statistic.
Moving football cards
Pinnacle is putting the NFL in motion with its first Sportsflics 2000 Football set. Each card has two photos on the front, and they change when they're moved.
The set has 184 cards, five to a pack. There are four insert sets, plus a redemption card good for a 5-by-7 version of the player pictured. Look for them in mid-November.
CARD OF THE WEEK
SkyBox Premium NFL has 200 cards plus 55 insert cards. Three quarterbacks have autograph exchange cards (Ken Stabler, Jim Kelly and Trent Dilfer). Each regular card has a scouting report by Chris Mortensen. (Shown is the Los Angeles Raiders' James Jett.)