It’s the end of as era for one of the most important non-sports magazines in the trading card industry. Beckett Media is ending publication of Non-Sport Update magazine with the December(2025)/January(2026) issue. Subscribers were surprised as the magazine started hitting mailboxes a couple of weeks ago. Above the magazine’s title was printed, “Collectible Final Issue”. GPKNews has reached out to Beckett for comment, but the company has not issued a statement beyond removing all related NSU websites. However, many employees involved in the magazine including current Editor-in-chief, Alan Biegel, have posted online in the last few days confirming the end of the magazine.
Non-Sport Update was founded by hobby legend, Roxanne Toser. Roxanne recently passed away, but GPKNews spoke with her son, Harris Toser, who was the only person involved in some way with every issue of the magazine in its existence. On the beginnings of the magazine Harris shared, “My parents started Non-Sport Update in 1990 with original editor-in-chief Chris Benjamin, (author of the non-sport editions of the Sport Americana Price Guide to the Non-Sport Cards books). My mother was the Publisher. My parents had been dealers in non-sports at the time and heard from some sports card collectors saying they were interested in entering the market with speculation and trying to drive up pricing. They, (my parents), did not want this to happen. There were no regular price guides at the time, so the thought was to get one out there to stabilize the market. Both Roxanne and Chris had a vast knowledge of non-sports so they, (and hobby friends), were able to share their knowledge through features and articles in addition to the price guide that came with each issue.“ The magazine took off immediately, with acceptance from both within the industry and collectors, Harris continued “The magazine was very well received. They had tremendous support from sport and non-sport card dealers to help with advertising. And as anyone in publishing knows, advertising helps pay the bills. The magazine quickly went from a quarterly publishing schedule to bi-monthly. It could have easily gone to monthly as well, but for some reason we decided to stick with the bi-monthly schedule.
The magazine was truly a family affair as Harris worked loosely with the first few issues before moving full time on the magazine. Beckett Media purchased the magazine from Roxanne in 2016, and Harris remained as a consultant on the magazine. Harris maintains many happy memories from his time on the magazine. “I had a full time job in Baltimore in 1990, (my parents were in Harrisburg, PA). For the first few issues, I helped with keeping the subscriber database. In time for NSU’s 3rd issue, I left my job to become full time with the magazine and working for my parents. I have many, many happy memories of the time with the magazine. It was a lot of fun traveling around to go to card shows, trade shows, etc. to promote the magazine. I especially liked the trips to Comic-Con International in San Diego and overseas to Memorabilia, (now called MCM Comic Con), in Birmingham, England.”
Garbage Pail Kids were featured throughout the magazine’s run with various articles including a few cover features. GPKs were always one of Roxanne favorite things, Harris shared this memory of his mother, “As many are aware, we spotlighted Garbage Pail Kids many times over the years. It was definitely one of Roxanne’s favorite subjects. As an aside, she had a GPK phone case and many times when I was with her, people would comment on her case — ‘I remember those…’ Imagine an 80-something year old woman with a GPK phone case proudly displaying GPK’s.” Harris continued to explain how GPKs were featured in the magazine, “We didn’t have a strategy with GPK coverage. From time to time, when a new release came out and Topps would give us access, we would feature GPK’s in the magazine and a few times, on the cover. I always liked how the Adam Bomb cover we did for Vol. 30, #3 (Jun/Jul ’19). I think that one came out really nice!”
No one is shocked in 2025 when a print publication ends. The internet houses all the information on everything these days. However, collectors of physical items, like trading cards, always seemed to gravitate towards physical media. Many GPK collectors would seek out and collect the GPK covers. It was always fun seeing GPK sketch artist’s excitement when they were featured in the Non-Sport Product Hot List section in the magazine. Harris shared his thoughts on the end of the magazine, “It’s very bittersweet. NSU felt like my family’s contribution to the hobby, so to see it end was upsetting. Also, I was 24 when NSU began and as I write this, I’m getting ready to turn 60, so it was the better part of my life! It’s a shame, I’m kind of techie and love the internet and realize you can get a lot of the news and card series details, (that appeared in NSU). from the internet, but hobby people collect cards, physical things, so many people also prefer a magazine over the net. It’s a real shame that NSU, as it existed for 35 years, is no more. It’s definitely an ‘end of an era’ as you say.” While this part of the hobby may be going away, Harris is still involved with running the bi annual Philly Non-Sports Card shows. Their next show, (#84), is schedule for April 18 & 19, 2026.
The ending of NSU leaves just two non-sport related print periodicals, PSA Non-Sport Magazine and The Wrapper. At the time of this article it was unclear if Beckett has any future plans for the magazine. Can the industry in 2025 support a print magazine any longer? Harris isn’t sure, “That is a good question (i.e. ‘Can the hobby still support a print magazine in 2025…and beyond’). Perhaps. And perhaps a different approach is needed to do so.”
