The Short Answer
- 2024-25 The Cup (Dec 2025): ~$2,500-3,000/tin, 6 cards — 1 RPA, 2-3 autos/mem/booklets per tin
- The Cup RPAs ship pre-slabbed in Upper Deck 'Authority' holders — authentication slabs, not grades
- RPA ladder: base /249-99 → Gold Foil /24 /12 → Red Foil Auto Tag /4 → Green Foil Auto Button /3 → Black Foil Shield 1/1
- Authority slab ≠ PSA grade — cracking out to PSA 10 multiplies resale on star rookies
- Thick stock + patch windows produce chronic edge wear — PSA 10 hit rates are low, which supports premiums
- Hockey's market is concentrated: McDavid, Crosby, Bedard-class rookies carry the premiums
Hockey's Apex Product — With a Slab Built In
Upper Deck The Cup is hockey's super-premium product — 2024-25's edition landed December 3, 2025 at roughly $2,500-3,000 per tin (6 cards), guaranteeing one Rookie Auto Patch plus more hits.
The unique wrinkle: The Cup RPAs ship pre-encapsulated in Upper Deck 'Authority' slabs — anti-tamper holders that authenticate the patch/auto but carry no grade. Whether to crack out and re-grade at PSA is the central question of this product — and the answer is usually yes for the right cards.
2024-25 The Cup — Product Anatomy
- Configuration: 6 cards per tin, 1 pack; ~$2,500-3,000/box market price
- Guaranteed: 1 Base Rookie Auto Patch (/249 or /99, in Authority slab), 1 auto/jersey/booklet, 1 numbered auto-relic or plate, 1 base /249, 2 additional cards
- Structure: no Panini equivalent — The Cup is hockey's NT/Immaculate rolled into one product
- New inserts: Autographed Monumental Puck Booklets (game-used puck pieces), Enshrinements (hard-signed /99), Color Coded (/35), Emblems of Endorsements
Authority Slabs vs PSA Grades — The Crack-Out Decision
What an Authority slab is: UD's own encapsulation — verifies the patch/auto is authentic, uncirculated, and unswapped. It is not a grade.
Why collectors crack out: the resale market prices grades, not authentication. A star rookie's /99 RPA in an Authority slab sells at raw-ish prices; the same card in a PSA 10 slab carries the standard 2-3x graded premium. Collectors regularly crack Authority slabs to submit to PSA.
The crack-out math:
- Star rookie RPA /99: Authority slab ~$1,500-4,000 → PSA 10 ~$4,000-10,000+ — worth cracking on clean copies
- Mid-player RPA: the crack-out adds less — check whether the PSA premium exists for that player
- 1/1 shield/puck booklets: always worth grading — trophy cards need the grade label
Caution: cracking a slab reveals the card's actual condition — inspect immediately after cracking. What looked fine behind Authority plastic may show edge wear.
The Cup Parallel Ladder
| Tier | Numbering | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base RPA | /249 or /99 | The default Authority-slabbed rookie patch auto |
| Gold Foil | /24 and /12 | Premium parallel tier |
| Red Foil Auto Tag | /4 | Laundry-tag patch |
| Green Foil Auto Button | /3 | Button relic |
| Black Foil Auto Shield | 1/1 | NHL shield patch — the trophy |
| Printing Plate Booklets | 1/1 | Plate + auto booklets |
Hockey's equivalent of the NT logoman: the Black Foil Auto Shield 1/1 is the chase that moves markets on Bedard-class rookies.
The Cup Defect Profile
Thick premium hockey stock fails the same way as NT/Immaculate — see our NT/Immaculate guide for the full breakdown:
- Edge wear from thick stock against packaging
- Patch-window fraying at die-cut edges
- Off-center patch placement in the window — graders score it
- Auto quality: hard-signed autos are clean more often than sticker autos, but streaks happen
- Authority-slab hiding: a card can sit in its Authority slab for months with undetected corner/edge issues — inspect on crack-out
What to Grade from The Cup
Always grade:
- Star/generational rookie RPAs (Bedard, Celebrini, top picks) — crack the Authority slab and submit
- Any /24-or-lower parallel — scarcity props the grade premium
- Shield/tag/button 1/1s and booklet autos — trophy cards
- Veteran legend autos (Crosby, Ovechkin, McDavid-class) — hockey's legend premiums are strong
Screen first: mid-rookie RPAs — the Authority slab means raw-ish price; grading only pays if the card is clean AND the player carries a premium.
Skip: base cards /249 of journeymen, generic memorabilia — the fee exceeds value.
ROI Analysis
Star RPA example: a top rookie /99 at ~$2,500 raw (Authority slab) → PSA 10 ~$6,000-9,000 → even a $200 PSA Express fee is a rounding error. The crack-out is the play on clean copies.
Mid RPA example: a depth rookie /99 at ~$300-500 → PSA 10 ~$800-1,500 — worth it if the card screens clean; a 9 (~$400-600) still beats the Authority-slabbed price.
The hockey caveat: the market is concentrated — premiums concentrate on a dozen names. Check the specific player's graded comps at our pop tool before cracking. Run the math on the ROI calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an Upper Deck Authority slab?
Should I crack an Authority slab and grade at PSA?
How much is a box of The Cup?
What is The Cup's top chase card?
Do The Cup cards grade well?
Sources & Further Reading
- Upper Deck — 2024-25 The Cup
- Checklist Insider — The Cup Checklist
- PSA Population Report
- PreGradeCards Population Tool
The PreGradeCards Research Team combines machine-learning engineers, grading analysts, and collector-education specialists to produce accurate, data-driven guides on AI card grading, professional grading standards, and collecting strategy.
With submission floors rising, pre-screening is no longer optional. Use our AI Pre-Grade Calculator to score a card's PSA 10 odds before you pay, and the Submission Planner to pick the right tier.