I received an email from beckett with the news and though I do not collect football I was intrigued by the news. After reading some of the comments in the beckett forums it seemed as though most collectors were glad to see them go based on poor customer service and "karma".
I did some research on the fall of UD and it is sad to see them be out of everything but hockey. As a Griffey collector, UD was the only company I could pull any GU/AU Griffey stuff from since he has (had?) an exclusive contract with them.
So it sucks for me as a collector as Topps puts out very few griffey cards each year and no GU/AU. This is extremely bad for the hobby (anybody remember Topps cards from the 70's) since market competition generally means the consumer is the winner. I am not looking forward to the future of the hobby.
Maybe the yu-gi-oh counterfeit situation ultimately put UD in this situation. Sad, sad day for a Griffey collector.