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
Fri, 18 Apr 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.
Chapter 1: Who is Ryan Alford and what is Right About Now?
This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 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. It's our weekly business news highlights of the week here on April 18th, 2025. Good Friday. Happy Easter to everyone. Early, it celebrates Easter. It's a 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 reflecting a bit on things happening on and around us. It's been an interesting ride in the business world. Again, if you're heeding our advice from last week, stop reading the headlines, stop calling your trader every day. Playing this stocks for the long game. And
You know, there won't be any tariff talk today. We could talk about that, about the batting back and forth, but it's 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 going to 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, you know, 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 fall over to saying that out loud, but it's been, you know, you have, I'm an entrepreneur, have multiple companies. Uh, it's been hard to, you know, Hey, doing digital marketing, social media, some stuff that's actually cooler than most jobs.
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Chapter 2: How much are Americans expected to spend on Easter in 2025?
Candies, number one at 92% top spending categories. 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 one of those Cadbury eggs. You know what's polarizing?
You know what a 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. That's got to be, I would guess, 80%, dude, 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, I don't know. It's very sweet and very rich, but very tasty. Uh, anyway, let me know. Send me some comments. Do you like the Cadbury cream eggs or not? I kind of, kind of dig them now. Nash likes them. Nash will eat four of those things. I'm like, how did you just eat four Cadbury cream eggs? Like, and not like, I don't know.
One of those lay down and never get up. Uh, During this, this is a quote, during this time of economic uncertainty, I mean, 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, I was getting into this quote, hadn't even pre-read it.
But I'm like, during this, when are we not in economic, are we even in an economic uncertainty for six years? Okay. Like, we have the greatest country on the planet, and we're There's all this fear mongering going on. But you know what? It's a great time to be alive and 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 hours. during this time of economic security. Consumers are prioritizing their Easter celebration and retailers are ready to help them enjoy this 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?
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Chapter 3: What are the top spending categories during Easter?
Chapter 4: Why is Cadbury a standout brand in Easter candy sales?
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. Hey, on Easter, you get the basket with the candy and go find and 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 going to get? I just think... About the number of, like, I got to get the article, you know, maybe as a follow-up. 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. It's everybody's favorite Easter. 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 do they kind of stare at me funny in the package, I do not think those are interesting or tasty whatsoever. And another thing, Nash will 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. Are 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 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't know what they were made of. I think they're like Twinkies. They're made of similar material in a different format as a Twinkie. 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. Here's something to keep in mind.
If you're listening to this on Friday and you're wanting 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'll need to 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 going to stay open because we know people are going to be working on some DIY shit no matter what the day. Let's see what their sales are like on an Easter Sunday. Because, you know, they don't have any competition. So if you're going to go buy something, you have to go to Home Depot. And I'm not supporting that. It's Easter holiday.
I think everybody should close. I'm just stating the facts here. 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. Welcome 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.
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Chapter 5: What is Tom Brady's new role in the sports collectibles market?
Chapter 6: How are trading cards becoming a popular alternative investment?
We've done a few sales. But card breaks are very interesting and very fun. This is gambling for kids or traders, essentially. Essentially, and if you're watching the YouTube, which you should be, the YouTube video, having it all. 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, you know, these boxes are expensive. They're anywhere 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 breaks for this would be, okay, maybe I put three of these boxes together.
So you've got three boxes. There's six packs. So you've 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 spin that wheel and let's say you get the commanders, which is the desired spin for this year's class because Jaden Daniels cards are worth the most. So you buy the position, $30, $40, $50, $100. I mean, it depends on what level of cards and value you're breaking. You get a spin, and you might end up getting the 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.
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Chapter 7: How does Ryan Alford teach business concepts to his kids using trading cards?
So it's a very interesting gamble to see if you get the best cards, most valuable, if you get those special edition cards, as long as it's that team, uh, 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 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 because my boys are into it and there'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 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 and an all-female crew into space. They completed a safe landing. Oh, wow. I am glad that this came up. I love this, by the way.
And I actually love it because it's funny that... 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, oh, flaunting your wealth. Give me a break, guys. This woman's worked her ass off in her career, successful, made a lot of money. She can spend that money on whatever she wants.
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, hell yeah, I'm going. It's very unique.
Yeah, it's like the greatest roller coaster ride of all time. It's 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, like just like everything else. They can't just go, wow, that's probably awesome. Katy Perry. Yeah. I wonder if she's staying in space.
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Chapter 8: What is the controversy and significance of Katy Perry’s space flight with Blue Origin?
You know, like, but I respect her as an artist, as, 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. 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, Gets a little funky with some stuff. But she's a great artist.
She entertains people. Let her go spend her money. Go to space. Go to promote whatever she wants. We don't need to complain. 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 got to say about that. Let her enjoy her space flight in the giant penis. If you've seen those rockets, I'm sorry. I call space space.
The rocket ships just look hilarious. I'm hopeful it's 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. 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, our 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 too. 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 backs of cards? Well, you'll see. You're wanting to get one of these rookie cards.
You've 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 a card cam sponsor. We can have your logo right here. Card cam brought to you by... I'm actually going to call Brian at Ludex. We hit it off.
One of our first interviews. Ludex 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. I think we got the zoom. There we go. Joe's got the fancy zoom 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. Nate Wiggins played at Clemson. Oh, we've got 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. In Wasu, maybe. Maybe. I don't know.
Oh, we've got another insert behind it. Oh, I like those. These are fun. State of the art. You get it? State 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 Goff had a good season. Jared Verst, another rookie. Tyreek Hill, Pat Firemuth, Andrew Richardson, Terry McLaurin. Jim Carball.
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