With PSA imminent, is this the best time to submit magazines to CGC?

PSA's much-anticipated entry into the magazine grading business will become reality on July 14, when the card-grading giant begins accepting submissions of magazines, according to sportscollectorsdaily.com.

And like many magazine collectors, I am ready to take advantage of this opportunity. I already have 10 Sports Illustrated magazines boarded, bagged and ready to ship — to CGC.

PSA's debut in magazine grading seems like a perfect time to submit magazines to CGC, which surely knows it will be in strong competition from PSA from the start, and figures to be motivated to maintain its lion's share of the market.

More often than not, industry leaders scoff at or ignore newcomers invading their turf, because the challenger usually is a fledgling start-up struggling just to get a foothold in the market. But PSA is the opposite — it's the dominant king of the grading industry, with a massive footprint already established. And while it's technically new territory, what PSA doesn't know about magazine grading, it will easily learn. Or should. This should be a lay-up for PSA. CGC already has made many of their mistakes for them.

CGC has dominated the magazine-grading market as a virtual monopoly since it was founded in 2000, and increasingly so in the last five years as sports magazine collecting has taken a small step, if not a giant leap, towards the collectibles mainstream. It has improved its operation on several fronts recently — presumably in response to the threat of PSA entering the market. And that includes grading. By casual observation, CGC's grading seems to be a little looser in recent months as PSA's start date has neared — probably not a coincidence.

That momentum only figures to increase with PSA becoming an actual competitor. Obviously, CGC can't lower their grading standard to compete with PSA. But magazine grading is subjective enough that there's significant gray area. There's virtually no discernible difference between a 9.8/9.6 — or a 9.6/9.4 or 9.4/9.2 for that matter. CGC has room to "throw you a bone" and will be more motivated than ever to give you that benefit of the doubt that doesn't compromise the integrity of the grading scale.

Many magazine collectors are likely to use both services and see how the dust settles. And whether the CGC 9.8s will command the same prices as the inevitable PSA 10s will be critical to many collectors. The hope is that PSA quickly establishes itself, CGC maintains its standing and both companies enhance the magazine-grading hobby — and the market. No doubt there will be a rush to submit magazines to PSA. But — for now, anyway — it might be an even better time to go to CGC.

If you switched the labels on any of these magazines graded 2/10ths apart, you probably couldn't tell the difference.