The Best One Yet - 🌽 “America’s Most Played Sport” — Cornhole’s circus strategy. M&M’s pet-plomocy. Tesla’s 2nd shrinkage.

Episode Date: July 3, 2024

Cornhole is the most popular sport in America… thanks to a business model from the circus.With Tesla shrinking for all of 2024 so far, are EVs a fad?... We looked a the data to find out. M&M’s-owner Mars now sells more pet food than candy… because it invented “pet-approved.”Plus, this July 4th is also the 100th birthday of the Caesar Salad… we’ll tell you the real story.$HSY $NFLX $TSLASubscribe to our Saturday Newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletter  Watch us on YouTube Submit Facts & Shoutouts Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn (Nick) & LinkedIn (Jack)About Us: From the creators of Robinhood Snacks Daily, The Best One Yet (TBOY) is the daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. 20 minutes on the 3 business, economics, and finance stories you need, with fresh takes you can pretend you came up with — Pairs perfectly with your morning oatmeal ritual. Hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell.00:00 - intro01:21 - Caesar salad04:05 - Cornhole’s circus strategy09:12 - Tesla’s 2nd shrinkage.13:35 - M&M’s pet-plomocy18:33 - Takeaways19:18 - OTHER NEWS21:00 - Best Fact Yet22:34 - Shout outs Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, Soviche Wednesday, July 3rd. And today's pod, today's pod. And all the pods is the best one yet. It's a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today.

Now, you're any stock markets close early today and they are closed tomorrow. Chances are, you're already closed. You're already out of office for like a four and a half day weekend. But Jack and I tomorrow are publishing a special episode to send you into the 4th of July. The patriotic pod publishes to... tomorrow. The most patriotic pod yet. But in the meantime, Jack, we've got three fantastic stories for today's show. What's on the T-Boy? For our first story, the most popular sport in America. Are you ready, Nick? Oh, hit me. It's Cornhole.

Cornhole, Yendies Jack and I are covering professional cornhole because Cornhole parrude a business model from the circus. For our second story, Tesla sales fell for a second straight quarter. So Nick and I are asking a shocking question. Are electric cars the trend or just a fad? We answer that question using data, yes, and pizza. And our third and final story is Mars. Mars invented the M&M. But now they sell more pet food than candy. And this candy company did it with a little trick.

A pet approved little trick. A dog trick. Yeah, it's a dog trick. Literally. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Oh, what a mix of stories before a pretty much really long weekend, Jack. I love the mix of stories. Thursdays are really good.

really convenient day for the 4th of July, isn't it? Yes, it is well put, well put, Jack. But tomorrow isn't just America's birthday. Our 248th birthday, to be precise. There's one other birthday tomorrow that you need to know about. Get this, happy 100th birthday to, the Caesar salad. Put the dressing on the side and hold the anchovies. Because the Caesar salad turns 100 years old this 4th of July. Who cares about the Cobb Nick? Jack, who needs a Niswaz? The Caesar salad is officially the most recognized salad type in the entire world. I said anchovies on the side, on the side. And the Caesar salad has some sweet history.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, yeties. The Caesar salad was not invented in Italy. And no, no, no, no, no. It has nothing to do with the ancient Roman emperor. No, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style. We got a napkin. And what do we discover, Jack? The Caesar salad was actually invented in Mexico.

That's right. The Caesar salad is hetcho on. Mexico. Talk to me, Jack. What do we got? Get this. During the 1920s, Prohibition had banned liquor across the United States. So Americans went south of the border to Mexico to have a little bit of fun. And there, one Italian immigrant, Cesare Cardini, or the Americanized version, Caesar Cardini, opened up a cafe in Tijuana, Mexico. And on July 4th and 1924, he served his mom's salad recipe. There you have it. It became the Caesar salad. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all that one's a...

I said it on the side. No one wants the anchovies. Nick, the Caesar Salp was invented by an Italian immigrant in a Mexican restaurant for California tourists. And then spelled confusingly to make us think it was Roman, Jack, what's the takeaway here? What's more American than that? So, Yetis, forget the burgers this Fourth of July.

Stick a crout on your barbecue. No anchovies. We don't want them. Jack, let's in our three stories. What is this? The Olive Garden? Fifteen years before this song. Two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm They had an idea to cause a cultural storm It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm

Jack Nick, that's it I don't even think they need to practice 50% that's a fat tip Tea Boy City on your at list If you know you know because we're ready to go We can't wait no more So just start the show Start the show

First, a quick word from our sponsor For our first story Jack hold the bag because the sport of cornhole is surging across America. So we want to talk about the pro cornhole league, which borrowed a business model from the circus. All right, Jack, let's jump right into the hero stats. What is the most played sport in America?

It's not basketball, it's not baseball, it's not bowling, it's not golf. Tennis? To know, what is it, Jack? According to a recent Ipsos survey, it's Cornhole. It's Cornhole, the millennial horseshoes. We're talking about Cornhole here. Cornhole is the most popular sport in America because according to that survey, 20% of Americans played cornhole last year. That's beating bowling's 19% and swimming's 18%. And again, tennis 10-0.

You think golf is popular, Nick? Cornhole is played by twice as many Americans as golf. Stick that in your seven iron yeties. Cornhole requires two wooden boards of Baltic Birch, one cutout hole in each of them, and eight bean bags for the two teams. And there's 27 feet between those two boards, and you better not step on across the line as you're tossing that bag. And then you can't sit with us at lunch. Yeti's Cornhole can be played on a beach or a lawn at a wedding reception or at the Sig Epp sorority party. The goal is simple. Get the bag in the hall.

That's it. But here's the news. Cornhole has become so popular that they just launched a pro sport league. It's called the ACL, the American Cornhole League. Cornhole League. But Jack, this American Cornhole League, it ain't playing on ESPN The Oat Show, is it, man? They got a streaming deal with ESPN

proper. And have you heard of our buddy Jeremiah Lewis, my friend? Part-time UPS driver, part-time professional cornhole. This guy, Jeremiah, is dominating the cornhole professional circuit from Ohio to Iowa. What's it called when you land all four bags

in the hole? I have no idea, Jack. A grand slam? That's all Jeremiah does. Yet he's he was the first name brand cornholder with a sponsorship deal and the Olympic team may want to start paying attention. Who's the sponsor? I think it's Bush's baked beans and I kind of love that, Jack. You know, besties, they say bowling is the only sport with an ashtray built into the equipment. Well, Cornhole is the only sport where having a beer in your hand actually improves your form. It's like beer pong, but the PG version. Although someone is going to comment that we're

calling it wrong, it's called bags. Either way, it's an acquired taste. But yet is here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this professional cornhole story. The ACL is actually part of a broader trend in entertainment. Upstart sporting leagues. Upstart sporting leagues. Yet he's professional lacrosse, professional bull riding, professional pickleball, and now professional cornhole? Rookie professional leagues are disrupting the veteran sports leagues we know.

Speaking of golf, Tiger Woods and Rory McElroy, those pro golfers launched a new one-on-one indoor golf league. That's already worth $500 million. And what's the reason, Jack, for all these upstart sports leagues suddenly disrupting the sports market? Live sports on TV. We Americans simply can't get enough of it. Jack and I have said it before, live sports are the holy grail of TV. That's what gets you hooked watching TV. With only four big sports leagues, there's more live sports demand than there is supply. And that's the problem in the industry. And that's what's drawing the upstart sports leagues.

That's why we're seeing the rise of pro pickle bollers. semi-pro cornholers. Jack, for some reason, I now have a craving for baked beans and I don't even know why. See, the sponsorship worked. Oh, it's already working. But yet, it's a funny thing Jack and I noticed. There's one big difference in how these upstart leagues are using a different business model. So, Jack, can you toss the bag and tell us what's the takeaway for all our buddies in the entertainment industry? Upstart sports leagues follow a touring model, just like the circus. Ah, Yeti's professional Cornhole. Like those other new leagues, it doesn't have any hometown teams. Instead, all the teams follow the ACL's tour. The league will come to you. The touring model, because maintaining an interest for, like, the New York City professional cornholer team, like, that would require, like, a really big fan base. The threshold for building a local audience that will follow the team year around, that is really high. Instead, it's cheaper and easier to build a national audience with scarcity and intrigue. Cornhole, it only comes to. It only comes to. to Cleveland once a year, so you better mark your calendar and you better show up.

And funny thing, Jack, we have seen this same concept before, and where have we seen it exactly? In the circus. It's the same business model as the circus. All the new sports leagues that are sprouting up, they come to town once a year, just like the Ringling Brothers did 100 years ago. Professional Cornhole, professional pickleball, professional bow riding, they're all meeting demand for live sports, and they're doing it with tours. Maybe someday they'll be popular enough to have hometown teams like the MLB and NFL do. But in the meantime, they're borrowing the same old business model as the circus to pull it off. The touring model.

For our second story, Tesla just announced that sales shrank for a second straight quarter. With so many negative EV headlines, Nick and I are going to ask an uncomfortable question. Yes, we are. Are electric cars a fad? Are electric cars a fad? And Jack and I are going to answer it by ordering some pizza. More than a minute. More than a minute.

In the meantime, Jack, I'm feeling unplugged. You got a low battery. Does anyone have a phone charger out there? Yet is Tesla just reported that they delivered 443,000 cars from April to June of this year. All right, 443,000 cars. Is that good? Is that bad? Sprinkle on some context, please. That.

It's down 5% from last year. Tesla's not supposed to be shrinking. It's actually Tesla's second straight quarter of sales shrinkage. The leader of electric cars spent the last six months selling fewer cars than they did one year ago. is a funny thing. As a couple of guys here who happen to own electric vehicles and think it's a solution for climate change, Jack and I, we've got to ask a little bit of a worrying question. With shrinkage coming from Tesla two quarters in a row, is it possible that electric cars are a fad? I mean, Jack, look back at our recent podcast, Lourdes Town and Fisker, those electric vehicle brands

just went bankrupt. Tesla's been shrinking all year. And we're both spending time with our in-laws who are pretty suspicious of the electric cars still. They're still just a just as suspicious about EVs as they were three years ago. They're like, what's going on with that battery? It's a really big scary battery. So Nick and I are answering the question in this story. Are EVs a fad, like Peloton, plant-based meat, and planking? So besties, Jack and I checked the rest of the industry to find out, and there's a funny reason why we chose to do it today, right, Jack? The whole industry announces their quarterly car production sales on the same day. Yeah, it's actually extremely convenient for our podcast. Yesterday, we looked at all the production reports for all the five

top EV companies in the U.S. And it started with Rivian the Robin to Tesla's electric Batman. Jack, what were Rivian's numbers? Rivian announced yesterday that sales rose by 9% compared to the year before. All right, Jack, what about Kia and Hyundai's electric car sales? Even better. Sales of Kia's and Hyundai's in the U.S. rose 31% and 36% so far in 2024.

Jack, buckle up that seatbelt. Let's jump on Interstate 94 and head on up to Detroit. What's going on up there? GM is selling way fewer EVs than Tesla over. overall, but their sales growth is 40%. Not too shabby. And Ford took the cake in the electric car industry, baby. Ford sales of electric Mustangs and electric F-150s are up 88% so far in 2024. All right, Jack, let's whip out the full scoreboard here and do a full ESPN style recap. What do we get? The number two through five electric car brands behind Tesla are all growing pretty fast, actually. It's just the number one Tesla that's not growing. So, Tesla's EV sales are down, but every other car company's EV sales are up. The reason? It's explained by pizza. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the car industry?

Tesla is getting a smaller slice of a bigger pie. For those trying to understand the electric vehicle market right now, your analogy should be pizza. For about 15 years, Tesla was the de facto electric car industry. It was the entire pie. It was the pie because from 2006 to 2021, there is no serious competition. Tesla was pretty much the only electric car brand. But since, in the past three years, more car companies have jumped into the EV market. So now, Tesla is down to just 50% of the electric car market. So if you're just looking at Tesla, you see shrinkage.

But if you zoom out, the whole electric vehicle market is actually growing. Since 2021, Tesla's slice of the U.S. EV pie has shrank by almost half. But the pie's total size is actually twice as big. Long term, if we're worried about reducing our carbon footprint, you don't care about who has the biggest slice. You care about the size of the electric car pie. And that's exactly what's happening here. Tesla's getting a smaller slice, but it's of a way bigger pie.

So, Nick, are electric cars a fad? Survey says, no, not a fad. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, owner of Eminems is now the leader in pet food. How did this candy company pivot from chocolate to chihuahua? How do they do, Jack? By creating a fake badge.

A fake badge. All right, but Jack, this July 4th, I assume that you and Alex are going to have a fantastic picnic spread. Maybe a charcutory board. Are you doing charcutory out there? I mean, I wouldn't call it charcutory. It's more of a Fourth of July buffet. That's kind of what I'm going for.

But, Jack, have you heard of a barcutory board? Bar cutery? Bar cutery. Instead of prosciutto and cheese, it's kibble and bets for the little puppies out there. Oh, like bark cutery? Like bark cutery. Because yet his pet spending has doubled in just the past five years in America. But guess who's the company at the center of your pet spending?

It's not Purina Dog Chow. No, no, no, no. It's Mars, the Candy Company. Mars, the Candy Company, the owner of F&M's, Wrigley Gum, Skittles, Nerd, Swedish Fish, we could go on, Jack. Mars is one of the largest privately held companies in America. Yes. And in 2014, 10 years ago, they made a decision to expand to a new industry. Yeah, they adopted a puppy.

I mean, they acquired a company related to puppies. That's what they did. Yeah, it is, Mars has been on an acquisition spree of pet-related companies since 2014. Jack, let's sprinkle on some context to the Mars Pet Care Division. What do you say, man? They own dozens of dog food brands like Iams, Yucanuba, pedigree, everything in the pet... Or grocery store. And get this, Mars, the candy company, even bought a chain of...

A veterinary clinics. Your puppy is going to be seen by Dr. Snickers. But here's the news, Yeti's, Mars, the candy company, is now getting more revenue from pets than from people. Mars had sales of $50 billion last year, and 60% of it was from their pet care division. What Jack and I are saying, besties, is that Mars isn't a candy company. Mars is now a cana company. And the man who led that pivot 10 years ago was promoted recently to CEO, and he has a bold new strategy. He's basically the Willy Wonka of Wymeroters, and he's got a bold strategy, Jack.

And you can see that strategy if you fly into the Nashville Airport. The Nashville Airport in lovely Tennessee, if you fly in there yet, is you're going to notice it is certified as pet friendly. There's a mini dog park. There's a pet relief area in every terminal. There's even Wi-Fi for the humans waiting for their dogs to go to the bathroom. Jack and I checked out pictures of this Nashville airport, and it feels like a pet paradise. even has the official seal of approval. It's a certified pet-friendly city, according to the Better Cities for Pets Organization.

In fact, there are only 150 pet-friendly certified locations in the United States, and it's all based on 12 specific criteria. A 12-part rubric to pass the pet-friendliness test. If there's no dog park, there's no badge. Jack, this is kind of like the lead certification that, like, you see on office buildings these days for environmentalists. Or organic certification on food produce you see at the grocery store. Yeah, it's the same.

Same exact thing, but it's pet certification for like pet happiness of like an airport. Another butt though, this pet certification badge, it's run, owned, created by the Mars company we were just talking about. Oh, that's the key detail for our takeaway. If you go to Better Cities for Pets.com, you'll see Mars at the bottom of the website, sneakily down there right in the corner. And they ain't servant bar cuterie. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies?

is over at the Mars Pet Corporation. Demand is like a puppy. You can't just feed it. You gotta nurture it. Okay, so Mars has suddenly created an award that surreptitiously grows the pet market. Mars is sneakily advocating for pet-friendly cities in order to boost sales of their pet products?

I'm sorry, Jack, this sounds kind of self-serving. Oh, wait, Mars admits it. That new Mars CEO we told you about, he told Guardian newspaper, we are unapologetically a business. Now, for more reasons, this is a public good. The world is a better place if there's more loving pets in it. Yet for commercial reasons, this pet certification is a selfish act.

Yeah, the more pets, the more Mars is going to sell pet food. Frankly, either way, it's a bold strategy worth highlighting. It's the nurturing of demand. We have only seen nurturing of demand one other time. True. It was with Michelin. Yes. The tire company, and they did it 100 years ago.

I remember? Oh, it was an amazing story. Because, Yates, to sell more car tires, Michelin, the Tire Company, launched the Michelin Restaurant Guide. So that people would drive more and need to buy more tires. In order to go to those restaurants, what they did was they nurtured demand to sell more tires.

Well, Mars created a certified pet-friendly badge to sell more pet food. And that is nurturing demand like a puppy. Who's a good boy? Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for Saviche Wednesday. Cornhole is the most played sport in America. Astrosk on sport, by the and the American Cornhole League is borrowing the business model of the circus, touring. For our second story, Tesla announced a second straight quarter of shrinkage, which makes you wonder,

were EVs a fad? But the data don't lie and the data says they are not a fad. Tesla is just taken a smaller slice of a bigger EV pie just like a pizza. And our third and final story, Mars is pushing cities to be more pet-friendly in order to ultimately sell more pet food. Because you can't just feed demand. You gotta nurture it like a puppy. Yeah. But yet is this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, we just finished the first half of 2024 and here is the stock scoreboard. The S&P 500 is up 15% and there's one key reason why.

Almost all of the stock market's growth comes from just six companies that are benefiting the most from AI. The AI Mafia. In fact, just NVIDIA accounts for one-third of the stock market's entire growth. Also, Bitcoin is up 40% so far this year. Chocolate prices are up 85% so far this year. And gold just hit an all-time high price. Even Abercrombie is still on a popped collar streak. Abercrombie stock has doubled this year. And second, a record amount of travel is expected this 4th of July. So Nick and I are whipping up the best and worst times to drive this weekend. All right, Jack, The best time to drive, what is it? Wednesday before noon, Thursday before noon, or Friday before 10 a.m.

All right, so you want to hit the road early. But Jack, the worst time to drive this holiday weekend, what is that? Between 2 and 7 o'clock on Wednesday, which is today. Yeah. If you're driving this afternoon and this evening, we're sorry. Yeah, the early bird gets the burrito, you know what they say. And finally, Toys Are Us is one of the first major brands to create a TV commercial entirely with artificial intelligence.

The marketing industry is not thrilled about it. You know that I. But Toys R Us says they want to be an early adopter of artificial intelligence. And Jack, could you describe this little AI commercial for us, please? It looks like it's created by AI, by the way. But it's a boy going into some fantasy world with like AI Jeffrey the giraffe, like egging him along this journey. It feels like the real marketing here is that they did a commercial with AI.

I think that was the whole point. They just wanted to say they did this. Yeah. Now time for the best fact yet this one whipped up by a Yetty named David Lee's. This week, Nick and I calculated the number of men and women in finance who have blue eyes, a trust fund, and our 6.5. And Jack, what were the numbers exactly? 672 men, 12 women. But here's the quick correction from our buddy, David Lees, who happens to be a statistician.

When we were crunching the numbers, we assumed statistical independence across all those variables. What this statistician points out is that there is a correlation between certain variables, like height and income or finance and trust funds. You're more likely to have a trust fund if you work in finance. And you're more likely to have higher income if you're taller. So we shouldn't have multiplied the percentages as if they were independent because they're correlated. It turns out that the exact number of men and women in finance with blue eyes, a trust fund who are six foot five is marginally higher than what we said. Just so I like a few people. It's pretty close.

You can round up on this one. Yeah, David Lee's basically just rejected the null. Jackie, you had no correction about Nantucket. But I think the real moral of the story here, Jack, is that you shouldn't be searching for a man or a woman in finance with blue eyes at Trust Fund who's 6'5. They should be searching for you. I'm not correcting that one. Yeties, you've been looking fantastic all week. Remember to click to follow us on Spotify or Apple.

See you get every pod, including tomorrow's special pod. Happy 4th of July. Nick and I. We'll see you tomorrow. Patriotic pod is coming your way. Before we go, a congratulations to come. Cody and Kim Rhodes in Pleasant Hill, Iowa. These two are living in Germany.

They just got engaged in Greece, and now they're getting married this weekend in Denmark. Oh, and Jack, we got a one-year anniversary for Usman and Tina. Celebrating down in Woodbridge, Virginia. And yet is, if you have got a shout-out for a buddy yourself, a birthday anniversary, you name it, Jack and I want to get it on the pod. So click the link in the episode description and fill out our easy form. Or go to t-boypod.com slash shout-outs.

This is Jack. I own stock of Abercrombie and Fitch. Nick and I both own ETFs of the S&P 500, and we both own one Bitcoin, whose name is Ben.