Topps plans to do Sochi, Rio trading cards after success of London

Topps Olympic cards were so successful for the London Games that the trading card company plans to produce them for the Sochi and Rio Games, the company’s CEO Ryan O’Hara said.

Topps produced 653,848 total packs of Olympics cards, featuring U.S. Summer Olympic athletes like Michael Phelps and Lolo Jones. The cards sold out before the Games even started, O’Hara said. They were available for $3 per pack in stores like Wal-Mart, Target and various collectors’ stores.

“They were more popular than we expected,” O’Hara said. “We definitely are looking forward to doing this again.”

Topps signed a licensing deal with the U.S. Olympic Committee earlier this year to create the cards, marking the first time trading cards have been made with Olympians in 16 years. Upper Deck had a similar deal that ended in 1996.

O’Hara has a special connection to the Olympics. His dad, Michael, was a volleyball player who competed in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. O’Hara attended the London Games with his father.