Acme Packs Rips the First Unlicensed Donruss Football on Release Day: No NFL Logos, No Rated Rookies, and the Downtowns Are Back
For more than a decade, Donruss was one of Panini's flagship NFL releases. 2026 Donruss Football, released Oct. 28, is the first without the league. Acme Packs opened a hobby box on release day, and its verdict is in the title: "BETTER THAN EXPECTED!"
Donruss Without the NFL
Panini's NFL license expired on April 1, 2026, and Topps now holds the exclusive NFL and NFLPA trading card rights (CASE #0407). Panini can still make a football product called Donruss. It cannot put NFL team logos on it, and, as Cardlines notes, the current NFL stars are gone with them.
Cardlines, previewing the release on Oct. 28, lays out what that leaves. The checklist mixes retired NFL greats with college players. Barry Sanders, Joe Montana, Drew Brees, Randy Moss, Aaron Donald and Peyton Manning carry the veteran side. Bryce Underwood of Michigan, Julian Sayin of Ohio State, CJ Carr of Notre Dame, Dante Moore of Oregon, Keelon Russell of Alabama and Trinidad Chambliss of Ole Miss lead the college names.
The loss Cardlines singles out is the traditional Rated Rookie, which had anchored Donruss Football since Panini revived the brand in 2015. A college quarterback's card is not an NFL rookie card. That chase now belongs to Topps.
The base set shrinks too. Panini advertises 200 cards, down from 400 in 2025, and Cardlines notes that the first published checklist runs to 199 numbered entries, with No. 117 missing. Set builders should watch for that.
What Survives: Downtown
The thumbnail makes its own argument in three words: "DOWNTOWNS ARE BACK!" It shows a hobby box with "12 packs per box" on the front, a Downtown card, a Dominators card and a two-player Downtown Duos card of John Elway and Peyton Manning.
Downtown is the insert that makes Donruss worth chasing for many collectors, with its illustrated city backgrounds and landmarks. Cardlines reports that it returns with retired stars and college prospects, along with Gold parallels numbered to 10 and Black one-of-ones. Downtown Duos pairs two players in a horizontal illustration: Elway with Manning, Montana with Steve Young, and a Deion Sanders with Deion Sanders, a nod to his two-sport career. Elite Deck, Elite Series, Dominators, Gridiron Prospects and Throwback inserts fill out the rest.
Cardlines puts the hobby box at around $225 in current listings, against a debut of around $420 for last year's licensed release.
Analysis: That price cut is the bet in one number. Panini is selling the design language that made Donruss popular, Downtown above all, without the players who made it valuable. Whether a college Downtown of a quarterback who may be years from the NFL holds its price once Topps prints his licensed rookie card is the question nobody can answer yet. Cardlines makes the same point.
The Channel
Acme Packs has spent the week on both sides of football's license split. On Oct. 21 it reviewed 2026 Topps Heritage Football under the title "WELCOME BACK HERITAGE!" A week later it opened the unlicensed Donruss, and it ran a Donruss release-day break that same night.
Analysis: That gives the verdict here some weight. It comes from a channel that had just opened the licensed alternative.
Acme Packs last appeared here with its Topps Universe WWE review in September (CASE #0325). For what came out of the box and why the channel came away impressed, watch the video.
Verdict: the first unlicensed Donruss Football keeps the Downtowns, loses the Rated Rookies and costs about half of last year's box. Acme Packs thinks it beats expectations. The college checklist will decide whether the market agrees.
Channel: Acme Packs
