Football card showdown: Bowman vs. Score contest
By Justin Grunert | Beckett Football Market Analyst
Panini America and Topps have released their first NFL products of the year with 2015 Score and 2015 Bowman dropping on the same day. Both of these products offer a lot different things for collectors to enjoy.
Score has a huge base set of 440 cards for set building collectors. Panini has also upped the amount of parallels that are in product this year, which allows collectors to go after different versions of their favorite players. There is one auto or mem card per box on average. View pricing on your OPG now:
http://www.beckett.com/search/?term=2015%2Bscore&sport=185224&year_start=2015
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Topps stuck with the normal Bowman format, going with 110 veteran cards and 110 Rookie Cards. This product is loaded with 23 parallels, ranging from one-of-a-kind printing plates to parallels that fall every other pack. This product is all about the rookie autographs with four per box. Collectors also get one veteran Relic card per box. View pricing on your OPG now:
http://www.beckett.com/search/?term=2015%2BBowman&sport=185224&year_start=2015
Which of these products will you be collecting this year? Comment below for a chance to win a Bowman autograph and a Score autograph:
Always Bowman!
Both of these products are a train wreck.
Bowman is god-awful ugly. The photography is poor. It looks like it was just slapped together at the last minute. I bought a blaster and a couple of hanger packs at Target. That’s was more than enough of this product to last a lifetime.
Score is a more comprehensive product. It is just about the only Panini product where you find many veterans before rookie card fever kills another year’s worth of football cards. However, the card stock is flimsy, the inserts have a countless rainbow of parallels, and the otherwise decent photography on the card fronts, at least what you can actually see, is obscured by the most monstrously over-designed card front in the product segment. If you prefer cards of veterans, you probably need to be in on Score as it will be the only chance to get many of them besides in Topps when in drops in a month or so. Score also has the advantage of being cheap. I would prefer they up the card stock a bit, send the card front designer on a very long vacation, and ease off the rainbow parallels.
Neither of these cards sets will even nudge the needle come September when the season starts.
2015 Score for sure!
I like the Score a little more this year. They have more chase cards, and though I’m not high on parallels, I like the different versions in Score. Bowman is a little tired looking to me. The design could use an update. Some of the chase cards are nice, especially the one’s with on card autos (Like the mini ’48 Bowman cards.) I’ve bought boxes of both and while they are both nice, I prefer Score at this time. My pet peeve with both brands is lack of career stats (for veterans, obviously.) Instead, they fill the cards with useless information or lame anecdotes.
I think Score works better for me due to the number of veterans and the photography. The Andrew Luck card is a pretty sick photo! The price point for Score also works if you want to collect the set as you can buy 2 boxes for the price of 1 higher end product. They could ease back on the rainbow cards however.
Have to give the nod to Score here, it’s close both look awesome. As a football fan, I’m buying a box of score.
I’m going to probably grab some bowman. I am a refractor chaser, so it’s a no brainer.
I say Bowman mainly because of Chrome and Chrome Autographs. That and I think an auto or a mem per box from Score is weak. Personally, I’d skip most early season products and wait for in uniform photos.
I like Bowman just due to their style of cards.
Score, but only at a chance to hit a monster SP auto of someone in Wolverines Maize and Blue. The layout and look, without the generic photshopping, make it much more appealing. Same with the parallels, and I’d almost never chose a Panini product over a Chrome loaded with refractors. But Score seems like a winner to me.
Bowman is easily the better choice. 110 rookies will include a lot of lesser ones, but it also gives you a chance at a long shot that in a few years turns into a star. Plus the aspect of getting Bowman Chrome makes it even more fun.
I’ll have to give the advantage to Score for the college uniforms. Not that crazy about the Bowman no logo jerseys. Score actually looks pretty good.
Score one for Score! Score and Bowman both have nice looking veteran base cards but the big difference is the quality of the rookie cards. Score rookie cards are more appealing than the Bowman rookie cards. The Score rookie cards show the players in their college uniforms while the Bowman rookie cards show the players in airbrushed generic looking uniforms that are horrendous.
The Score brand this year looks way better than Bowman. I’ll wait until Topps has logos on them, thank you very much.
Dam Grunert could you have asked a harder question? I actually flipped a coin because these are dead even to me. One has more autos and color and the other has better set and photography.
And the winner is ………………Score by a Lincoln head
Side note when is Panini going to make a chrome Score or something more like that artist proof. Love that silver look.
It 2015 Score Football – It designs is part 1990s Upper Deck/MVP set and Futuristic Modern 2nd Decade 21st Century. 440 different player cards (upgrade over the last few years). This is the Flagship football set of the NFL.
I have not collected Bowman since its First year in 1991. By the way that set probably had the 2nd greatest write up on the back only to 1971 Topps Football.
Score wins no contested vs. Bowman and should easily Top Topps. 2015 Score Football is one of the best football sets in the last 10 years.
Neither, they are both terrible looking
Score for sure. Even though its a long shot for a nice pull its more rewarding when it comes. Even if it isnt a reic or auto. Red Zones & the other low #’d parallel’s in Score are just as satisfying when you get one as auto/relics are in other brands.
Bowman is much better, hands down!
I love Bowman, but I will probably go with Score since I can usually find boxes at a good price.
Both are on my wish list, but I think Score is more appealing due to the college license.
I will collect both for my team, but like score better with the larger set size and more base cards.
mark
I love the bowman chrome colored autos as I am trying to put together a rainbow of my new York jets rcs. Score is definitely cheaper to go after but the different showcase and other cards look too much like hot rookies. The only thing about the bowman chrome rc cards I don’t like is that there isn’t a team logo and they are in combine unis so for now I will get my fix for that by getting a few fathers day cards. Thank you for the contest as always!
I chose to buy a box of Bowman jumbo because of the amount of rookies available in each pack and also from the value that they hold in comparison to Score. My only complaint with Bowman is they still appear to have centering issues. With that said, I thoroughly enjoyed pulling an Amari Cooper blue refractory autograph numbered to 99, one of my best pack pulls in awhile. I will say in defense of Score that there is much more eye appeal to their cards in years past.
I like the Score. I like the RCs in the college unis versus the blah colored Bowman
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I enjoy collecting Score football. Lots of fun inserts and an affordable pack price!
Score hands down. While it may not be worth a whole lot I feel it’s the best bang for your buck. 52 card retail jumbos are the best value out there & allows collectors a chance to get all the essential RC’s without breaking the bank. Also even though nice hits are few and far between when they do come it’s that much sweeter.
I like the look of the Score cards better than Bowman. I enjoy the larger checklist from Score also as it gives a better chance to have cards of more players from your favorite team.
Score hands down because I PC college photo football cards only and cannot bring myself to buy non logo cards like Bowman , Score has a decent clean look and has enough chase to it as well , I enjoy the low end stuff where you can still find $300 cards when lucky