McDonald’s 1986 “Kick-off Playoff” Football Cards

In the fall of 1986, McDonald’s, most known for its Bic Macs, French fries, and Happy Meals, issued the largest set of football cards ever produced. Forty years ago, the fast-food giant began a four-week promotion known as the “Kick-off Payoff” that began in mid-September and ran through mid-October ,in which customers could get a free football card with each purchase. The bottom of the cards had a scratch-off game coupon that, dependent on which team won a particular upcoming game, could be redeemed for free food at the restaurant. 

The 1986 McDonald’s Football Set was a limited-edition collection available only at McDonald’s restaurants. The set featured a 30-card All Star set of the top NFL players and then each NFL team had a 24-card set featuring its own players. McDonald’s restaurants in the areas not near NFL cities issued the 30-card All Star set while NFL cities and other cities close-by issued cards of their own team.

The cards measure 3 1/16” by 4 11/16” and feature an attractive color action photo of the player with the scratch-off perforated coupon tab at the base of the card. Each card displays the McDonald’s logo in the top left corner, the team helmet in the upper right corner, the National Football League Players Association logo in the lower right and the NFL logo in the lower left. The players’ name, number and position are printed just above the perforated tab. The back of the card provides biographical information about the player including his 1985 highlights, career highlights and how he was acquired.

The 24 cards of each team came with four different color scratch-off coupon tabs—blue, black, gold and green. Therefore, if a fan wanted to collect all the individual teams’ card variations, there were 96 in total. The blue coupon tab cards were distributed in Week 1, black tabs in Week 2, gold tabs in Week 3, and green tabs in Week 4. The photo and the remainder of the card are the same except for the different color tabs. Also, if a player is in the All-Star set, that photo is the same as his team card. The cards tabs had to be unscratched, otherwise they were considered invalid. The cards with the tabs removed are 3 1/16” by 3 5/8” and are not worth near as much nor sought after like the cards with the tabs intact. In 1986 there were 28 NFL teams with 96 cards each and the 30-card All Star set in all four-tab colors makes for a complete set of 2,784 cards, by far the largest football card set ever made.   

To go along with the cards, each McDonald’s store had a poster advertising the set. It was prominently displayed for customers to see when entering the restaurant. The 18 1/2″ by 23 1/2″ poster displays the 24 cards of the particular team in four rows of six each on a white background. Each row of cards depicts a different color tab. Across the top of the poster is printed “1986” and the team’s name along with the team helmet in the center. A special collector’s poster, the “Super Team Saver Sheet,” was also available. This 22” by 25” poster had blank spaces to apply each of the 24 cards. The poster features both the McDonald’s and NFL logos and tells customers to “Collect all McDonald’s trading cards and place them in the surrounding areas to complete your favorite NFL team poster.” 

It was very difficult to acquire all 24 color tab cards in one week. A collector first had to find participating McDonald’s stores, then, of course, buy food several different times during the week and negotiate with the cashier to provide the cards of the players not yet collected. It was definitely a fun and challenging search. 

The All-Star set is close to a who’s who of 1980s NFL superstars with 16 of the 30 players featured in the set are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame including such notables as John Hannah, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Anthony Munoz, Walter Payton, and Lawrence Taylor. Some other notable players in the team sets include rookie cards of Hall of Famers Andre Reed, Jerry Rice and Bruce Smith.

Interestingly the most notable team set and among the most valuable is the Buffalo Bills. The team was coming off consecutive 2-14 seasons in 1986, but had just signed quarterback Jim Kelly. However, the Kelly signing did not occur until mid-August and the McDonald’s cards were already in production so he was not included in the set. In addition, because of the team’s poor performance in the previous two years, many of the local McDonald’s restaurants in Western New York carried the All Star set instead of the Bills set and thus the Bills sets were produced in lower quantities. The Bills blue tab set is among the most sought after and maintains the highest value at $150. Noteworthy players in the Bills set, in addition to the Reed and Smith rookie cards, are Jerry Butler, Joe Devlin, Scott Norwood, Jim Ritcher, and Fred Smerlas, Other valuable team sets that value at around $100 are the New York Jets black and blue tabs, Philadelphia Eagles blue, Indianapolis Colts blue and New Orleans Saints blue. Most other team sets are valued between $6 and $40. The All-Star set is valued at between $15 and $50 depending on the tab color.

The Jets set features three of the New York Sack Exchange – Mark Gastineau, Marty Lyons and Hall of Famer Joe Klecko. The Eagles set has Hall of Famer Reggie White and quarterback Randall Cunningham. The most notable Pittsburgh Steelers cards are Hall of Famers Donnie Shell, John Stallworth, and Mike Webster and the New York Giants set features Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor, quarterback Phil Simms, Harry Carson and Mark Bavaro.

That fall of 1986 was a fun time to chase and collect McDonald’s football cards, though by the end of it I was tired of Big Macs and McDonald’s fries! It is still a great set to collect today because it has so many players from each team, so many superstar players at affordable prices and the photos on the cards are really good. Happy Collecting!