Upper Deck Announces

New Organized Play Structure

Newly appointed regional representatives

to start servicing hobby stores!

North Las Vegas, NV (April 1, 2009) — Upper Deck is pleased to unveil a new structure for the Organized Play (OP) program for all its entertainment brands. To continue growing its high-caliber OP events and support for tournament stores, Upper Deck’s new OP structure will feature regional marketing representatives who will have regular contact with Upper Deck tournament stores in their territories and will assist those stores in growing their OP events.

This new OP program will allow for more direct and immediate contact between Upper Deck and its tournament stores. The regional representatives will also be able to respond quickly to a store’s needs and to assist with everything from judge recruitment and MANTIS software training, to local media outreach in relation to promoting special in-store Upper Deck events.

“Having been a retailer in this industry for eight years, I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be rolling this program out,” said Scott Gaeta, Upper Deck’s director of Marketing and Organized Play. “It’s something we’ve been working toward for a while now and it’s what we believe needs to be done to try and grow the industry as a whole.”

In addition to the new regional marketing representatives, Upper Deck is offering a new selection of events that will be available to qualified hobby stores over the coming months. This new program includes a shift of events such as “Sneak Previews” to hobby stores instead of being run by independent organizers. Some of the other events that will now be available to qualified hobby stores include City Championships, State Championships, and Regional Qualifiers.   

Upper Deck representatives will be presenting the new structure at the upcoming GAMA trade show to answer questions and sign up new accounts that wish to participate in this new program. Immediately after GAMA, designated Upper Deck tournament stores will be contacted by their Upper Deck representatives and provided with all the pertinent information they’ll need to take the next step in building their business through organized play.

About The Upper Deck Company

Upper Deck is the leading sports and entertainment trading card and collectibles company. For more information on Upper Deck and its products, please visit www.UpperDeck.com.