I tore mine open, but faced the same dillemma. I was hanging onto VOTC/VTSC cardbacks for eons but pitched them due to the space they wound up taking up.
There's SUPPOSED to be a way to lift bubbles off cardbacks with little or no damage to the card itself. I've heard of it working for different people, using goo-gone, sort of soaking around the bubble, lifting it, and then letting the card dry (which apparantly it dries and doesn't damage it much if at all).
It's interesting really, but I haven't ever tried it.