Creating Trading Cards for Canada’s Top University Basketball Players
A custom trading card activation for the U SPORTS Final 8, where athletes received personalized, collectible cards designed with team-specific details and finished with holographic elements and protective cases.
AI Trading Card Activation | U SPORTS Men’s Final 8 All-Canadian Gala
At the U SPORTS Men’s Final 8 All-Canadian Gala in Calgary, we created a custom activation where players received their own personalized basketball trading cards. Players stepped up for a portrait and within minutes received a personalized trading card featuring their name, jersey number, and team colours. Instead of a standard event photo, the experience gave athletes a collectible keepsake from the championship weekend.
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Client:
University of Calgary Dinos
Custom Card Designs
8
Custom trading cards created
146
The Activation
Cosmo designed a custom AI trading card system that turned player portraits into stylized basketball images and placed them into professionally designed card templates.
Each card was:
• Personalized with the athlete’s name and jersey number
• Matched to their team colours
• Printed instantly on site
To represent the tournament field, we created eight unique card designs, one for each team competing in the Final 8.
Making the Cards Collectible
To elevate the experience, each card included a custom holographic authentication sticker and was placed into a protective trading card case.
The result felt less like a photo print and more like a real sports collectible.
The trading card experience quickly became one of the most talked-about elements of the All-Canadian Gala. Players gathered around the activation to compare cards, see the different team designs, and show their teammates their finished collectibles.
