As Major League Baseball hosts the 2024 All-Star Game in Dallas in July, a company from New Jersey called Behold will provide a unique way for collectors to find, collect, and catalog valuable baseball cards. Behold is a blend of video games, the Home Shopping Network, and the growing national interest in baseball cards. The company’s CEO, Eugene Khutorsky, describes Behold as a video game where participants can compete, collect cards with friends, form teams, and earn points based on their collections. Top players each month have the chance to participate in premium breaks for free.
The value of sports trading cards is on the rise, with Forbes estimating the market at $4.3 billion in 2022 and potentially reaching $20 billion by the end of the decade. Behold operates on a freemium model, where participants purchase digital loot boxes that offer a chance to open real baseball cards. These loot boxes range in price from $1 to $5 and give collectors access to breaks or sports memorabilia tokens for future use. The company will use artificial intelligence technology to identify and catalog cards as they are opened, storing them in a digital vault for customers while providing online receipts.
Behold is led by Mets fans Eugene Khutorsky and Stephane Boulineau, who met at a sports card show in New Jersey and shared frustrations with the industry. The company aims to address the current lack of return on investment for card collectors, particularly those who engage in card-breaking activities that often result in minimal or no valuable cards. Behold targets kids who love cards as their primary market and seeks to reduce customer losses by providing a more rewarding experience for collectors. To fund their venture, Khutorsky and Boulineau sold their own memorabilia collections and have already attracted 13,000 beta users without any advertising.
The company aims to revolutionize the way collectors interact with sports cards by integrating technology and creating an interactive and competitive experience. Behold’s unique approach includes personalized digital cosmetics for users to customize their virtual cards and earn points to open more boxes. Chief technology officer Sebastian Vargas brings expertise in 3-D computer graphics engineering to develop engaging content for users that includes animations, special effects, and creative skits. Behold’s goal is to attract not just current sports card consumers, but also general sports fans who may not already collect cards.
Live-stream shopping for sports cards has been successful overseas, with China generating over $400 million in revenue in 2022. Behold seeks to capitalize on this trend by offering an entertaining and interactive way for fans to engage with their favorite teams and players through collectibles. With a focus on creating a more engaging and rewarding experience for collectors, Behold is poised to disrupt the sports card industry and provide a new avenue for fans to connect with the hobby. By combining the nostalgia of collecting cards with the excitement of video games and technology, Behold offers a fresh and innovative approach to the timeless hobby of collecting baseball cards.
