Right About Now with Ryan Alford - BUSINESS NEWS: US Easter Spending Soars $23.6B - Tom Brady's Trading Card Vault - Katy Perry's Space Adventure

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

SUMMARYIn this week’s episode of Right About Now, host Ryan Alford dives into the top business stories for the week of April 18, 2025. He kicks things off with a reflection on Easter’s cultural and economic impact, noting that Americans are expected to spend a staggering $236 billion—led by strong candy sales, with Cadbury at the forefront.Ryan also spotlights Tom Brady’s recent investment move, acquiring a 50% stake in Card Vault, underscoring the surging interest in trading cards as serious investment assets. Drawing from personal experience, he shares how he’s using trading cards as a fun, hands-on way to teach his kids about business and value.Wrapping things up, Ryan defends Katy Perry’s much-talked-about space flight with Blue Origin, advocating for the celebration of extraordinary experiences and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.Packed with humor, relatable personal stories, and sharp insights, this episode offers a fresh perspective on the intersection of business, culture, and everyday life.TAKEAWAYSEconomic impact of Easter spending in the U.S., projected at $236 billion.Significance of Cadbury in the Easter candy market.Overview of top spending categories for Easter, including food, gifts, decorations, and clothing.Tom Brady's investment in the sports collectibles industry through a stake in Card Vault.Growing popularity of trading cards as an alternative investment.Personal anecdotes about teaching children business concepts through trading cards.Katy Perry's space flight with Blue Origin and the surrounding criticisms.Defense of celebrity experiences and their cultural significance.Discussion on the excitement and community aspects of trading card collecting.Encouragement to reflect on the deeper meanings of Easter while celebrating with family.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over one million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now. What's up guys? Welcome to Right About Now. Well, it starts right about now. What's up guys? Welcome to Right About Now.

It's our weekly business news highlights of the week here on April 18th, 2025. Good Friday. Happy Easter to everyone. Early. It celebrates. It's the reason for the season, baby. I'm telling you. And I salute everyone as hopefully taking off the day, enjoying the day with family,

whatever you do on this pre-Easter Friday. It's a good time to reflect on the things we have to be thankful for. And, you know, I just think we have a lot to be thankful for. And this episode is going to be a little lighter for sure. Just me today again, Chris had a few business things. Hey, we're taking care of business, baby.

Chris had a few things going on. We're recording a little bit earlier in the week, giving our team some time off for Holy Week. And just, you know, reflecting a bit on things happening on and around us. It's been an interesting ride in the business world. Uh, again, if, if you're heating our advice from last week, stop reading the headlines, stop calling your trader every day, playing their stocks for the long game and you know, there won't be any tariff talk today. Good talk about that, about the bad back and forth, but it almost like by the time you talk about the news, something's changed about it.

We are going to talk about some interesting facts today. So in today's episode, we're going to talk the economic impact of Easter. How much are we spending on all those candy baskets? And where's all the money going? The numbers are startling. And Cadbury is the big winner, I do believe. We're also going to talk about Tom Brady has expanded into one of my favorite hobbies now, which we're also going to get into sports card collectibles and all the stuff to do

with trading cards, memorabilia. He has expanded and it's 50% stake in Card Vault, which is now very wisely named Card Vault by Tom Brady. If you're going to get in a 50% deal with Tom Brady, let's get his name in the name of the company. Hey, not stupid. Tom's built a brand and a name for himself. So get him in the whole name of the company if you're gonna do it. But it's fun.

I like what they're doing with Card Vault. Really expanding the retail experiences for trading cards and everything you can do. Getting into the digital aspect, which we'll talk about. Everything that he's got going on there. Again, signaling the size of this industry that is too big to ignore. I am excited. We're building out our trading card business series. Again, I didn't mention, I've got four boys under the age of 16. Now, I said 15 for the longest time. I think I

said that the other day, but my oldest is 15 and driving. I can't believe it about fell over to saying that out loud, but it's been, you know, you have, I'm an entrepreneur, have multiple companies. It's been hard to, you know, hey, doing digital marketing, social media, some stuff that's actually cooler than most jobs. You know, I'm not a banker, but it's hard to get your kids like excited about things, but they've gotten into the sports card trading thing. And being a digital marketing guy, being a brand guy, I've used that as a lens with which

to teach them business, teaching them e-commerce, teaching them how to set up business, how profit and margins work, what are your costs involved, minus N. So we're having fun with it, but I'm also teaching them the business side of it. And so in doing that, and I grew up trading, I've seen just how big this industry is. And it's been exciting getting back in it and using this platform because I want to bring, hey, we've got a lot of people out there

that look for diversification of investments and different things. Trading cards is one of the fastest growing segments for alternative investments, the memorabilia and things like that, and the younger generations into it. Let me tell you, I've hosted events and done things, and sometimes it's hard to get people to show up.

You hold a trading card event, people show up. Like I'm telling you, it's crazy the number of kids, adults, everyone's into trading cards and Pokemon and everything else. So we're going to continue that. We'll have some fun opening up a couple packs as well from our good friends at Panini. Get their new Zenith football edition out. A little underrated, I'll just say that.

We like to have fun. You need to check us out on the YouTube channel to watch and get the best of the pack openings that we do And hey, maybe some lucky winner will get today's best cards, but we're hey Tom Brady's in it So he ain't no dummy. You guys know that so Tom Brady and card vault and then And are keeping it light episode here on a good friday Uh, katie perry got blast into space literally with blue origin and Jeff Bezos. So, uh, interesting story there, even more so the, uh, the woke people that come out like bitching about it.

So, uh, come on. Yeah. People can go to space if they want to go to space, but, uh, those are your topics on a light good Friday good Friday, keeping it light and easy on your listening, wherever you're listening, hopefully on a ride to a family member or taking it easy. I couldn't believe this number. I don't know why. I know how big our economy is and how many people we have, but it's always staggering the dollar amounts and the zeros that are in some of these things. The US Easter spending is reaching $23.6 billion

this year. That's billions nearing a record high. When was the record high? Getting high on our own chocolate supply. That's what we're doing here. US Easter spending was the record high? Getting high on our own chocolate supply. That's what we're doing here. US each are spitting nears record high. Americans are expected to spend $23.6 billion on Easter this year, up from 22.4 last year. Just 1 billion more. Hey, just one more billion eggs.

One more billion Cadbury chocolate Easter eggs. Look, I'm telling you, I don't even like candy as much. I like gummy candy. I don't like chocolate candy, but you get those little Cadbury, tiny little chocolate eggs around. Like you wanna see a David Copperfield magic trick, disappearance.

That's what happens when those things come around. Gone in our household. Nash, my young son, we can attack one of those bags. I know, I know why where the billions going and get this, the top spending categories for Easter candies. Number one at 92% top spending, go food, 89%. This is the percentage of people that do spend it on it. Gifts, decorations and clothing rounding it out. Even non-celebrants are spending with 54% planning to buy Easter related items. That's because they want those Cadbury eggs.

Even if you're not into Easter, you want those Cadbury eggs. You know what's polarizing? You know what the polarizing candy for Easter is? Is the Cadbury cream egg. That's a polarizing piece of candy. Let me tell you, the little chocolate ones, the milk chocolate, if you don't like those, I don't know what to tell you.

Okay, I mean, that's gotta be, I would guess 80% do, 20% are crazy. But the Cadbury cream eggs are a little strange and I have learned to like them, but I have to admit, you open that thing up and you're like, Oh, no, it's very sweet and very rich, but very tasty. Uh, anyway, let me know how you send me some comments. Do you like the Cadbury cream eggs or not?

I kind of kind of dig them now. Nash likes them nationally for those things. I'm like, how did you just eat four Cadbury cream eggs? Like, and not like, I don't know. One of the ghosts lay down and never get up. Like, not like, I don't know, one of those lay down and never get up. During this, this is a quote, during this time of economic uncertainty, I mean, how, how long have we been saying during these uncertain times? I mean, that started with COVID. Like, I'm going to go ahead and just call this one out. I didn't

know I was getting into this quote hadn't even preread it. But I'm like, during this, when are we not in economic, we've been in an economics uncertainty for six years. Okay. Like we have the greatest country on the planet and there's all this fear mongering going on, but you know what? It's a great time to be alive in an American. And it's not really economic uncertainty unless you allow it to be. And I'm not taking that lightly or saying that because it's easy. But this ain't no economic uncertainty. This is a make it what you want it to be time. Anyway, off my high horse during this time of economic survey, consumers are prioritizing their Easter celebration

and retailers are ready to help them enjoy the special occasion with loved ones. I didn't know that I was going to get into this. It's supposed to be a light episode. But let me say this. This whole article is about how it's the most money ever spent on Easter. And during this uncertain economic times where people are spending $5 billion on Easter egg candy, give me a break. Come on.

Anyway, so how do they compare to Christmas or Halloween? Christmas obviously takes the big kahuna, but it does beat out almost every other category because it beats out Halloween. You think of Halloween being decorations and all the candy the kids get Easter beats it all out. Cause you get, Hey, on Easter, you get the basket with the candy and go find it all that. And you get the basket with the candy and go find it all that and you get the presents now. I mean, kids got it good now

in these uncertain economic times. How much stuff are you gonna get? I just think about the number of, like I gotta get the article, you know, maybe as a followup, like how many pounds of chocolate candy, like how many million pounds of Cadbury eggs get eaten every year? You know, it's millions, millions of pounds of Cadbury

eggs. So everybody's favorite easy. You know what I can't do? You know what else is polarizing? Easter has a polarizing candy. The chocolate cream eggs, a little strange. Those peeps, you keep those things away from me now. Not only they kind of stare at me, it's funny in the package.

I do not think those are interesting or tasty whatsoever. And another thing that, Nashville eat any candy. That kid will like, if you put it in front of him, yeah, he'll eat it. But Peeps, no way, Jose. You kidding me? What is a Peep made out of? Is it a marshmallow or is it something more nefarious?

I don't know. These are the mysteries of Easter candy that I think we need to get underneath here in our investigative business journal, journalistic approach. Again, we said we're keeping it light. We're keeping it really light. Those peeps are real light. Let me tell you. I don. Those peeps are real light. Let me tell you, don't know what they're made of.

I think there's like Twinkies. They're made out of similar material in a different format as a Twinkie probably. If you left one underneath a car seat for 40 years, I guarantee you that peep looks, feels, and acts exactly the same. That's scary. Manufactured candy that we get into.

So here's something to keep in mind. If you're listening to this on Friday and you want to get out and about, Target and Lowe's are closed. Walmart and Ikea are open. There you have it. You've got the insights if you need to get out there. So Target, Costco, Sam's Club and Lowe's closed. Walmart, Home Depot and Ikea will remain open. You know, there'll be some blowback for them probably closed. Walmart, Home Depot and IKEA will remain open. You know, there'll be some blowback for them probably.

But hey, Home Depot's no dummy. They're like, okay, Lowe's, you go ahead and close. We're gonna stay open. Cause we know people are gonna be working on some DIY shit no matter what the day. Let's see what their sales are like on an Easter Sunday. Cause you know, they don't have any competition. So if you're gonna go buy something,

you have to go to Home Depot. And I'm not supporting that. It's Easter holiday. Like I don't, I think everybody should close. I'm just stating the facts here of what, like what is the business outcome of this? Interesting. We will see.

As we mentioned, Tom Brady is expanding into sports collectibles with Card Vault by Tom Brady. Come to us from our good friends at SI.com. Tom Brady has recently made a significant move into the sports collectibles industry by acquiring a 50% stake in Card Vault, a premier sports card and memorabilia retailer. The company has since rebranded as Card Vault

by Tom Brady, signaling Brady's deep involvement in future direction. I think so, or just smart branding using his name, whatever you want to call it. Brady's acquisition is more than a financial investment. It's a strategic partnership aimed at expanding Card Vault's footprint and influence in the collectibles market. That sounds like someone at Card Vault wrote that. More than a strategic partnership.

Or more than a financial acquisition, strategic partnership. They're gonna have an enhanced customer experience as stores offer immersive experience, including cutting edge authentication services, exclusive VIP trading experiences, and a curated selection of sports card and memorabilia. Beyond the physical storage card vault is expanding its digital presence with exclusive

content and live stream box breaks, aiming to engage a broader audience of collectors and investors. So let me tell you a little insight on something for, for this card breaks. This is something as you get back into the realm of live shopping, whatnot. You try to be getting someone from whatnot in on the sports card series. That is a whole, uh, let me just say it's a thing. All amongst it to itself. We've set up a whatnot channel.

Go to Breaking Rad on whatnot. You can see our channel. We do, we do. We've done a few sales, but card breaks are very interesting and very fun. This is like, this is gambling for kids or traders essentially. Essentially. And if you're watching the YouTube, which you should be a YouTube video having it all, uh, so the breaks of the card, like literally these boxes I'm holding up

and I'll open some packs here in a bit, but this is more to get into. So most of the cards, if you don't buy like a single retail pack come in these boxes. And what these breaks are is essentially, these boxes are expensive. They're near from 40 to hundreds of dollars

depending on what they are. And you've got multiple packs in them. And so one of the most traditional like brakes for this would be, okay, maybe I put three of these boxes together. So you got three boxes, there's six packs. So you got 18 packs and you buy into the break by buying a team.

So what they do is they'll have like a digital wheel that will spin and you get the team that it lands on, but you've got to buy the position. So what you're doing is bidding on a position with which you get a spin of the wheel to determine what team you get. So they spend that wheel and let's say you get the commanders, which is the desired spend for this year's class because Jaden Daniels cards are worth the most. So that win that you buy the position 30, 40, 50, a hundred dollars. I mean, it depends on what, what, what level of cards and value you're breaking. You get a span and you might end up getting the, you know, bad news bears and not necessarily the Chicago Bears, but let's just say a team that's not so desirable. But you spend X amount to get it. You get all of the players that are open out of those packs

within that break. So open all 18 packs that are in these boxes and every player that's on that team that you got, you get all those players. So it's a very interesting gamble to see if you get the best cards, most valuable, if you get the special edition cards, as long as it's that team,

you get the player and the cards and all that go with it. So you can do a break. Like I did a break once where they opened like 10 boxes. I got two cards. It just happened to be, they got very few of that team. It was not a good investment. Let's just say that. But we hold them ourselves on Breaking Rad.

You can learn more about it at breakingrad.com and our Instagram channel, breakingrad.com underscore. If you go to breakingrad.com on Instagram, you'll find it. But nonetheless, we're doing these as well with my boys. They're fun. It's fun. You get to watch people see what team they get, see what cards they get when they open it. But that's what, when you hear the word breaking, that's what breaking is. They're going to be doing those live. That's gotten huge. We tell you, you go into these rooms, there's hundreds of, or thousands of people sometimes watching. You only got maybe 10 people that actually bought something, but you got a

thousand people in there watching. This is the future of live shopping and digital retail, folks. That's where the business tie in here. It's not just sports card. I'm using that lens, but there's my boys are into it. There's's a lot of money and it should be something that you consider investing in as a collectible. It does have that value, but let me tell you the live shopping nature of what's happening in sports cards and other is the future of a lot of things. I mean, it's crazy. The amount of stuff of whatnot that's going down. I just just do a series on live shopping and whatnot. Look, if you go back to 2018, I did a FedEx event where I was a guest speaker in marketing. And I talked all about this live shopping thing. And if you got on board with what I told you to do in 2018, you should be doing all right.

You better be one of these pioneers on whatnot. I'll tell you, because I told you it was coming. Oh, and finally, Blue Origin launches Katy Perry. be one of these pioneers on what that I'll tell you because I told you it was coming. Oh, and finally Blue Origin launches Katy Perry and an all female crew into space. They completed a safe landing. Oh, I am glad that this came up. I love this, by the way. And I actually love it because it's, it's funny that, you know, there's been some blowback from it. Because people are going, Oh, I mean, how much gas and fuel do they use for that? And all flaunting your wealth? Like, give me a

break, guys. Like this woman's worked her ass off her career, successful, made a lot of money. She's like, she can spend that money on whatever she wants. You know, she can go blast into space or go blast in the ocean. She can go do anything she wants with her money that she's made and go have a good time doing it. Because who else? I mean, I personally don't have the interest to go spend a million dollars on this. Like it's not worth that to me.

But if I got invited, uh, hell yeah, I'm going. It's very unique. Yeah, it's like the greatest roller coaster ride of all time. No one gets to take. So basically she gets shot up into space. They came down safe somewhere in Texas. And then there's blowback because everybody complains about every fucking thing. Just like everything else.

They can't just go, wow, that's probably awesome. Katy Perry. Yeah. I wonder if she's singing in space. No, I can't believe it. It was, it was, you know, she's wasting money and it was against the environment. But the mission was intended to promote her upcoming music tour and to highlight STEM initiative, but it quickly drew criticisms labeling the

stunt a tone deaf display of wealth. tour and to highlight STEM initiative, but it quickly drew criticisms labeling the stunt a tone deaf display of wealth. Come on guys. You know, we take the BS out of everything. Just stop already. Really, just stop. You need a life. Go find a life.

Like you're worried about what Katy Perry is doing with her money and promote her out concerts. She's going to get blasted into space with Bezos and his girlfriend and having a good time promoting her album and you're worried about her flaunting her wealth. Get over it. Some fans expressed disappointment noting the trip seemed more like a vanity project than a meaningful contribution to science or culture. Come on, come on guys. Like, can we please just let an event be an event? Is it possible? Have we just, have we just gone to these depths where everything is a problem? Like, I don't even, Katy Perry's not even like my jam, you know? Like, but I respect her as an artist is, you know, one of the top female artists the last, what, 15 years. Like she's got to be up there.

So she's earned a place. She's on American Idol. Uh, you know, she was very attractive at one time. I don't really know anymore. I don't know what's, you know, it's kind of, it's a little funky with some stuff, but she's a great artist. Like she entertains people, let her go spend her money, go to go to space, go to promote whatever she wants. We don't need to complain. And, uh, I just can't, I'm reading some of these quotes. It's unbelievable. Just let Katy Perry go to space. That's all I gotta say about that

Let her enjoy her space flight In the giant penis You've seen those rockets. I look like I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah cost space space basis The rocket ships just look hilarious. I'm hopeful. This is the same one. I didn't see an actual picture of it. So anyway, Katy Perry blasted into space and blasted by fans that are too woke to know how to even think, uh, Easter spending 23.6 billion at a record high, even amongst this economic uncertainty. Imagine that and card vault. All right.

Today, last part of today, as we get into our trading card series, you know, I want to share the excitement with everyone, you know, that comes with a pack opening pack discovery. That is what it is. So we are today, we are good friends at Panini, you know, them and tops slash fanatics are kind of the players in the space. And this is a product from Panini Zenith football 2024. Pick these up at any of your local retailers.

Walmart carries them. A lot of other people carry them. Fun packs to good looking cards. So we're going to open a couple here. This is out of their mega box. This is about a $50 box. So you're trying to say, okay, how much value can I get out of $50 back cards? Well, you'll see you're wanting to get one of these rookie cards. You got our overhead camera. I mean, Joel's got us hooked up here, dude. We've gotten fancy. We've got the overhead cam,

the card cam. That's what it is. And look, Panini, Joel needs a sponsor here for the card cam. So we need the card cam sponsor. We can have your logo right here. Card cam brought to you by, I'm actually gonna call Brian at Lodex. We hit it off one of our first interviews. Lodex needs to sponsor the card cam. That sounds right Joel, doesn't it? Yeah, for sure. All right, here we go. These nice black with the gold trim still getting my alignment right up. I think we got the zoo. Oh, there we go. We got, Joe's got the fancy zoom it right at one spot.

There you go. Now you can see them. We got that gold and black miles, Garrett. These are the base cards. Jalen hurts miles. Garrett, Josh Jacobs, Richard sermon, Josh Allen, my favorite player. I always pull him out. Uh, Nate Wiggins played at Clemson.

Oh, we've got an, our first insert guys. This is a Chrome insert. This is the a to Z. Oh, look how shiny that is. A to Z. I'm not even going to try to pronounce his name. He plays for Seattle. Uh, in Wasu maybe, maybe, I don't know.

Oh, we've got another insert behind it. Ooh, I like those. These are fun. State of the art, but you get it upstate and the art. You see the state. Yep. There they are. He plays for Detroit.

So you've got Michigan there and the hollow nature of these fun cards. Jared golf. In a good season, Jared version of the rookie Tyreek Hill, Pat fire, Muth, Andrew Richardson, Terry McLaren, Jim Carball. There's your throwback card. Uh, fun, fun pack. Couple inserts there. These are cards. Fun.

I enjoy, you know, just the thrill of the open. Like a scratch off card, right? Yeah, you open them, you can see what you got. Got that Josh that one right there. What's fun is easy. You always have one autograph or memorabilia in it. I've gotten pretty good. You can usually feel like the thicker packs.

Like my kids have gotten so good at this. Like they're feeling the packs to see which one is thicker to know. OK, which one's got their memorabilia card in it? These are actually pretty balanced. This thing might mean we have an auto one more pack to see if we get it. And if not, you can watch probably be on our YouTube

or our whatnot will be live where all our cards go for sale there in a breaking rad.com Okay, that blasts the past Adam Vinatieri Dak Prescott. He's got some competition now Andre Johnson Russell Wilson Eddie George no throwback player Jaheem Bell rookie Brennan Rice your rookie card. It's a green parallel. Oh, we've got another insert card. These are really cool. That's cool. Okay. So this is, these are called the idols card where it's got an old school and new school player. So you've got Lawrence Taylor, LT in the black and white, and that's Micah Parsons who plays for the Dallas Cowboys in the foreground. So it's technically Michael Parsons.

They show kind of the, this is Michael Parsons idol growing up, which is who's, why wouldn't it be Lawrence T. There's like the most feared man in football. Like I would destroy some people. So that's hiding behind there. Really cool what they did with these. One of my favorite inserts of this series. Got Xavier Leggette, Antecoma Drew Brees, and it's in Michael Irvin.

We got some throwbacks here. TJ watt, one of the best defenders today. Hey, and there's Peyton Manning to end off the pack. These are fun, open. I'd call this the middle of the road set. I think better than people think they'll be, um, and the inserts are pretty cool. The state of the art, they actually thought through some of this kind of cool concept, right? Um, I think so. I'm an art guy though that in this, it's a little more thoughtful. You get the

foreground, the new player background, the old player with black and white and color, Joel, you give me a pretty looking cool, right? They're pretty nice. Well, Joel's a, a, a creative, extraordinary graphic designer, art direction, all that stuff. So he knows good art when he sees it. We trust his opinion. Uh, we appreciate our friends at Panini and Zenith.

You need to, you need to sponsor card cam though. Telling you it was light. It was fresh. it was easy. Staying out of tariff talk this week. It is an Easter Sunday weekend and a good Friday. I hope everyone out there has a wonderful time with family celebrating whatever you celebrate and just don't forget the reason for the season. Hey guys, you're going to find us, Ryanisright.com.

You'll find all the highlight clips on some of these trading cards. You always follow me on Instagram at Ryan Alford. See links to all the stuff, all the things we're up to with Radcast Network and all our good sponsors who we appreciate. Again, we appreciate them all. And especially give a shout out to independentcenter.org. Go check them out for all of the latest studies and insights that remove the politics and just focus on the policies.

Hey, thank you for making us number one. We'll see you next time, right about now. This has been Right About Now with Ryan Ulford, a Radcast Network production. Visit Ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening!