2026 Topps Holiday Football went up for pre-order on topps.com on September 28. It's Topps' festive take on this year's NFL cards, and it's the kind of product that can sell out on pre-order and still be easy to find at retail later. Short version: great for gifts and ripping, but not one we'd buy in bulk to flip unless you already have buyers lined up.
What's in a 2026 Topps Holiday Football Mega Box
The only format Topps has confirmed so far is the Mega Box:
- Price: $29.99
- Contents: 10 packs per box, 10 cards per pack
- Case: 20 boxes per case (already sold out on topps.com)
- The set: the 2026 rookie class alongside veteran stars, all in holiday-themed designs
What collectors will be chasing:
- Base Holiday Spirit Variations: festive short-print versions of the base cards.
- Rookie Holiday Spirit Variations: short prints of the top rookies in a flannel holiday design.
- Dear Santa: an autograph relic card designed like a letter to Santa, with players signing their "wish list." Topps' preview shows a Fernando Mendoza rookie version.
- Hidden Elf: elves hidden in the base design around the player.
- Snow Globe Moments: a new winter-themed insert.
Why collectors are paying attention
Topps is the NFL's exclusive trading card licensee again, and it's rolling its Holiday line out to football. Holiday baseball showed how much demand these sets get. 2026 Topps Holiday Baseball (out October 21) came in three formats: a $29.99 Mega Box, a $44.99 Tin and a $59.99 Advent Calendar. The Mega Boxes, the Tins and every sealed case option sold out during pre-orders.
For football, Tins and Advent Calendars haven't been announced. If Topps follows the baseball playbook, they're likely coming, but treat that as a guess until Topps confirms it.
Retail vs. eBay: what it's selling for
Retail is $29.99 per Mega Box on topps.com. Here's what the early eBay market looks like, from sold listings as of September 29:
- Holiday Football presales: four Mega Boxes sold in the first day of pre-orders, at $44.99 to $59.99, about 1.5x to 2x retail. One buyer paid $5.90 extra for shipping, and two of the sales were Best Offer listings, which can close below the listed price.
- Holiday Baseball, for comparison: it has the same $29.99 Mega Box and has been on pre-order a week longer. Around 20 presale Megas have sold since September 23, mostly between $35 and $60, with the middle of the pack around $48.
That looks like easy money, but check the math. eBay takes 13.25% plus $0.40 on a trading card sale, and the fee is charged on the sale price plus shipping and sales tax. A box that sells for $48 with free shipping loses about $7 to fees, leaving roughly $41. Then you pay to ship a heavy box. Compared with $29.99 plus tax, that's a few dollars per box at best. These are also presales: nobody has the product yet, and a handful of early sales is a small sample.
Flip, hold or pass? Our take
ML runs sports cards in our Discord, and his call on this one is to hold off unless you have buyers lined up. That means stores, breakers or people who want it as a stocking stuffer. Three reasons:
- It's not a scarce product. Holiday sets are made for mass retail. Selling out on topps.com pre-orders doesn't mean the product will be hard to find in December.
- Shipping eats the margin. It's all paper, so boxes are heavy, and advent calendars are huge. On a $30 box, shipping costs can wipe out a flip.
- There's no rush. Topps' price at release can differ from the pre-order price (it rose $10 for Chrome Star Wars and $20 for Bowman Football in our breakdowns), but this is a mass-retail product, so waiting costs little. Look again when it ships instead of locking in money now.
If you just want to rip some festive packs or put a box under the tree, $29.99 for 100 cards is a fair price. As a flip, it's a pass for now.
What to watch
- Tin and Advent Calendar announcements. New formats mean new pre-orders. For baseball, the Advent Calendar was the only format still available after the rest sold out.
- Release-day pricing. If Mega Boxes start selling well above $29.99 on eBay once they ship, the math changes.
- Hot rookie pulls. Early Dear Santa and Rookie Holiday Spirit pulls of the top rookies will drive how collectors value the product.
New to sports cards? Start with how to start reselling, see what a reselling group actually does, or browse more sports card guides.
Get the sports card calls in our Discord
Every Topps drop gets a full breakdown in our sports card channel before it goes live: pricing, what's worth entering, what to skip, and the details you need on drop day. When ML says "pass," members save their money. When he says "enter up for all," they're ready at the drop.
And when it's time to sell, you don't have to rely on eBay. Our WTB and WTS channels are where big sellers, breakers and collectors in the community buy and sell with each other every day, and that's often the fastest way to move sealed boxes and cases.
Sources
- Topps — 2026 Topps Holiday Football (official product page)
- MLB Daily Dingers — 2026 Topps Holiday Baseball arrives Oct. 21 with Hidden Elf hunt
- NFL.com — Fanatics Collectibles, NFL and NFLPA announce multi-year licensing deal
- eBay — sold listings for 2026 Topps Holiday Football Mega Box and 2026 Topps Holiday Baseball Mega Box (checked September 29, 2026)
- eBay — Seller fees