Sports Authority Gift Certificates or Something Better?

Unfortunately, no. Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy and closed all of its retail locations in 2016. The company no longer exists as an operating business, which means there's no entity to honor any remaining gift certificate balances. If you have an old Sports Authority gift certificate, it's not redeemable anywhere — not online, not in a physical store. Your best move at this point is to redirect that gift budget toward something current and tangible. A custom Snapshot sports trading card is one option that delivers a genuinely personal keepsake for about the same price as a typical gift card balance.

Three things: the template design, the print quality, and the card stock. Snapshot uses pro sports-card layouts that mirror the aesthetic of licensed trading card sets — borders, foil-style accents, stat blocks, and position indicators all show up where you'd expect them on a real card. The cards are printed on professional card stock, not photo paper or regular printer stock. And every card ships in a magnetic case, which is the same type of case collectors use to protect valuable cards. That combination is what makes people do a double-take when they first hold one.

Production takes two to three business days from the time you place your order. After that, standard shipping delivers within the continental USA, typically in two to five additional days depending on your location. If you're ordering for a specific event — a birthday party, a team banquet, a graduation — build in about a week from order to arrival to be safe. Snapshot's team in Des Moines, Iowa, handles production in-house, which keeps the timeline consistent and predictable. There's no outsourcing to a third-party printer that could slow things down unexpectedly.

You don't need a studio-quality image, but clarity matters. A sharp photo taken on a modern smartphone — especially one shot in good lighting — produces excellent results. Blurry images, heavily compressed screenshots, or photos taken from far away can limit the card's sharpness. Action shots work great as long as the subject is clear. Portrait-style photos taken on picture day are also very popular. If you're unsure about a specific image, the safest bet is to use the clearest, most in-focus version you have. Snapshot's design templates are built to showcase the photo prominently, so the better the image, the better the card.

Yes, and that's one of the most popular use cases on the platform. Team parents and coaches frequently place orders that cover every player on a roster — each card gets its own photo, name, and stats. You place each card as its own order or as a pack, depending on how you want them delivered. It's a meaningful end-of-season tradition that scales well whether you're buying for a six-player rec league team or a full 25-player travel squad. Many coaches have started doing this annually because it's become something players look forward to at season's end.

All of them. Snapshot isn't limited to football or baseball — the templates and customization options are designed to work for any sport at any level. Soccer, basketball, hockey, softball, volleyball, wrestling, track, swimming, lacrosse, cheerleading, gymnastics — if there's a photo of an athlete in action or in uniform, Snapshot can turn it into a card. The sport you're capturing doesn't change the quality or the process. This makes it particularly useful for athletes in less mainstream sports who rarely see themselves represented on professional-looking sports merchandise.

The MEGA is Snapshot's 11-by-15-inch oversized card — same pro sports card design as the standard trading cards, but printed at poster scale. It's $49.99 and ships with a protective case just like the regular cards. The MEGA is popular for senior nights, retirement gifts for coaches, milestone birthdays, and wall displays. It's the kind of thing that goes up in a bedroom, a locker room, or a family room rather than sitting in a binder. If you want to make a real statement with a gift, the MEGA delivers impact that a standard card simply can't match at its size.

Free shipping is included on every Snapshot order shipped within the USA, with no minimum order value and no promo code required. It's built into the pricing across all products — single cards, packs, and MEGA poster cards. The free magnetic case is also automatically included with every order rather than being a separate add-on. Snapshot's straightforward pricing is one of the things customers consistently notice: the price you see at checkout is the price you pay. There are no surprise handling fees or packaging charges added at the end of the order process.

While the physical card is the main product, you can absolutely bridge the gap between ordering and delivery by printing or screenshotting the card preview and including it in a card or envelope as a 'what's coming' reveal. This works especially well for birthday gifts or holiday presents where the timing matters. You hand the recipient a preview of their custom card and let them know the real thing is on its way. It turns the unboxing into a two-part experience — the anticipation of seeing the design and then the satisfaction of holding the finished printed card.

A sporting goods store gift card gives someone a budget to spend on generic merchandise — equipment, apparel, accessories they may or may not need. It's a practical gift but rarely a personal one. A Snapshot card gives them something that can't be found on any store shelf: a professional-looking trading card with their own image on it. It doesn't get used up or forgotten in a wallet. The value is in the permanence and the specificity. For athletes who already have the gear they need, a custom card is often the more meaningful option — and at $17.99, it's a lower entry price than most sporting goods gift cards, too.