As a sports card collector, you want to obtain the cards you want without having to purchase repeat cards or cards you don’t want. Sports card breaks are a way to get new cards while helping out other sports card collectors. But you may be wondering, are sports card breaks worth it?
Sports card breaks may not be worth it if you are a serious investor looking to eventually make a profit from your collection. However, if you think of collecting sports cards as a fun hobby to meet other collectors and enjoy the gamble of opening a fresh pack of cards, sports card breaks can be a great idea to build your collection.
This article discusses sports card breaks, how they work, the different kinds, where to find them, and if they are worth it.
What Is a Sports Card Break?
With a sports card break, collectors of sports cards can purchase a few cards out of an entire collection. This makes obtaining sports cards less expensive than buying a whole collection or box and keeping each card.
Each individual buyer will choose a professional sports team before the break (when the box is opened and shown via live stream). The buy-in for each team is priced at a set amount. When the breaker (whoever purchased the box) opens the cards, every card of a particular team goes to the person who bought in for that team.
In other types of sports card breaks, collectors can choose more than one team or they can choose a specific player. In random sports card breaks, a team is given to you at random.
To view current prices and inventory stock of blaster boxes, click here to check them out on Amazon.
How Do Sports Card Box Breaks Work?
During a sports card break, a single collector or investor will purchase an entire box or collection of sports cards. They will then offer other individual collectors a chance to “buy in,” which means they will get to keep certain cards from the box.
Sports card breaks usually occur over a live stream, so each collector can view the “breaker,” which is whoever bought the entire collection. During the live stream, the breaker will open the box and show each individual card included in the collection.
The breaker then sends the cards to the other collectors or investors who have purchased a share of the box.
Can You Make Money off Box Breaks?
Just because it is not a guaranteed profit, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t participate in card breaks. Even though you lose out on money most of the time, there are times when you make a profit. Also, buying in on card breaks is cheaper than buying fresh packs of sports cards.
Another reason to participate in a card break is because the randomness and unpredictability can be a lot of fun. You can also meet other card collectors through card breaks.
Rather than invest all of your sports card collection money in sports card breaks, try to aim for 20% on card breaks and 80% on buying individual cards. You don’t want to spend all your money on card breaks because it is essentially a gamble.
Are Sports Card Breaks Legal?
Yes, sports card breaks are 100% legal.
Types of Sports Card Breaks
There are different kinds of sports card breaks to choose from. Some sports card breaks involve a single pack of sports cards while others open someone’s entire collection. The breaker, or the person who bought the box of cards, chooses how many cards they want to offer to others and which type of sports card break they want to use.
| Type of Break | Description |
| Random | One of the most common sports card breaks is the random team. With this type of break, teams are chosen at random. Each person buys in at a set price, then different sports teams are randomly selected for each individual. With the random type of break, you may end up with a team you don’t want. |
| Choose Your Team | With this type of break, you don’t rely on chance to get a good team. Instead of using random selection, each person can choose their preferred team. With the choose-your-team break, each sports team has a different buy-in price depending on how expensive that team’s cards usually are. With this type of sports card break, you risk buying in on a high-dollar team and not getting any cards at all. Conversely, you could also buy in on a team that has a lot of cards in the box. |
| Divisional Break | This type of break is similar to team breaks in that every player chooses a team. With this type of break, each person can choose multiple teams or an entire division. There will be fewer people involved in the break with the divisional break compared to choose-your-team breaks. Buying in on a divisional break will be more expensive than other types of breaks because you are purchasing a bigger share of the box. |
| Team Draft Break | This type of break is similar to the random team break. With the draft break, each person is given a random draft spot, then you draft the sports teams. The best draft spot to get is pick one. If you are randomly given pick one, you get to choose any team. Conversely, the worst draft spot is the last pick, which means you get whichever team is left after everyone else has chosen. Team draft breaks are more time-consuming. Also, each person must be present during the break in order to conduct the draft. |
| Random Player Break | Another type of sports card break is the random player break. With this type of break, you can buy in for a player at random, similar to the random team break. You would then get every card of the player you were given. During a random player break, you may find a card with multiple players, even if they play on different teams. In this case, it is up to the breaker to decide how to proceed. Most often, the card will be randomly given to one person who bought a player or team on the card. |
| Razz Breaks | This type of break is basically a raffle. For example, you can sell 100 spots to 100 people and randomly assign each person a number. Only numbers 1-30 get a spot in the break. You can then use any type of card break to sell the individual cards. With the razz break, you are more likely to buy in without getting any cards because you might not even make it into the break at all. This is best for more expensive cards where there are a lot of hit cards such as autographed cards and memorabilia cards. |
| Serial Number Breaks | In this type of break, each player pays the same and are assigned a random number. The number determines what cards the players receive based on the serial number of the cards and their random assigned number. |
Buy-In Example
If you have purchased a share in a sports card break, you can choose a specific sports team. Then, when the breaker shows which cards are included in the box, you would get all of the cards of the team you chose.
Each collector in the sports card break will choose a team until each team has been selected, for example, each basketball team in an NBA sports card collection. Each collector will get the cards of their chosen team. If anyone chose a team and there were no cards from that team, they would not get any cards.
To view current prices and inventory stock of blaster boxes, click here to check them out on Amazon.
What Affects the Cost of Sports Card Breaks?
Many factors affect how much sports card breaks cost. First, how many teams you choose to buy in for affects the price. The more teams you choose, the higher the buy-in price will be.
Next, how many cards or box collections are included in the break. The more cards that will be opened, the higher the price of buy-in. Also, whether or not teams are given at random or if you can choose your team affects the price.
The last thing that affects the cost of sports card breaks is the quality of the cards. Higher quality cards will have a higher buy-in price.
How to Get Started in Box Breaks
Sports Card Shops
If you are looking for in-person card breaks, sports card shops often promote or conduct card breaks in their store regularly. Some sports card shops make most of their profit on sports card breaks, and you can also participate online.
Facebook Groups
The most common place to find sports card breaks is through Facebook Groups. Many Facebook Groups are dedicated to sports card breaks.
You can search “sports card breaks” in the search bar of Facebook. You can also search your chosen sport by typing in something like “soccer card breaks.” There are many groups to choose from on Facebook because it is easy to connect with others and post live streams.
YouTube Channels
Similar to Facebook, you can search for card breakers on YouTube to find sports card breaks. Search your preferred sport or just general breakers to find card breakers.
Many card breakers have their own website, which is where you would buy in for the breaks, but they post live streams on YouTube.
Sports Card Forums
You can find a forum for just about anything, including sports card breaks. A lot of members use forums to promote their upcoming breaks. You can become a member of sports card forums to get notified of any upcoming sports card breaks for your preferred sport or team.
If you are serious into box breaks, then we recommend checking out the blowout forums. They have just about every sports card box break available with an active community.
Start Your Own Group
If you have been collecting sports cards for a while, you probably know a few friends or acquaintances who also enjoy collecting. If you have enough people who want to participate in a sports card break, you can start your own card-breaking operation. You can also introduce non-collectors to the hobby.
By starting your own card-breaking operation, you can choose which type of sports card break you use. You can create your own rules and even create an entirely new type of card break.
Are Sports Card Breaks Worth It?
A lot of things factor in when deciding if sports card breaks are worth it. The first thing to consider is how many cards you actually get for how much you are paying to buy in. Some collectors and investors believe sports card breaks are an inefficient way to buy cards.
Another factor to consider is the randomness of card breaks. If you participate in a random team or random player sports card break, there is actually very little chance you get a profitable card of your preferred team. This means you will most likely lose money on a sports card break.
However, because of the randomness, you may purchase a buy-in at a low price and get a very profitable set of cards. Card breaking is similar to gambling in that you are paying money to be a part of a random event. Sometimes you will make a profit, other times you don’t.
If you think of sports cards as an investment rather than a fun hobby, you most likely won’t think sports card breaks are worth it. If your goal is to build your collection to sell as a profit in the future, you are better off choosing individual cards to buy.
Final Thoughts
Sports card breaks are a fun option to add to your card collection. The pros of sports card breaks are: They are reasonably priced, you have the chance to make a large profit, you can join a community of other collectors, and they are a fun way to experience opening a fresh pack of cards.
However, sports card breaks are not always the best option. The cons of sports card breaks are: It is not guaranteed you will receive any cards you want – or any cards at all, it is an inefficient way to purchase sports cards, it is essentially gambling, and most of the time you lose money.
When trying to decide if a sports card break will be worth it, ask yourself if collecting sports cards is a fun hobby or a serious investment. Are you looking to merely make a profit, or do you want to have fun with the gamble of not knowing if you will make a profit? Sports card breaks can be worth it if you enjoy the randomness of card packs, but they are not an efficient way to collect cards if you are a serious collector or investor.