The Hobby Is Changing Fast: TCG Boom, New Releases & Card Shop Grand Openings

Summary

Collector Nation Podcast – Episode Summary
Episode Title: The Hobby Is Changing Fast: TCG Boom, New Releases & Card Shop Grand Openings
Date: March 27, 2026
Host: Ryan Alford (with co-hosts Brian Lut, Bill, and guest Leonard from On It)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Collector Nation dives into the rapidly evolving trading card hobby, focusing on the booming TCG sector, new sports card releases, the momentum of college athlete NIL cards, and fresh insights from their own card shop grand opening. Hosts Ryan, Brian, and Bill, with special guest Leonard from On It, discuss market trends, tournament updates, notable product launches, the balance between fun and data in collecting, and the ongoing shifts in both the sports and TCG markets. The episode blends shop-owner perspective with hobbyist insight, making it valuable listening for new and veteran collectors.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trading Card Game (TCG) Surge

[00:30]

• TCGs are experiencing dramatic growth, especially One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh!.
  • “One Piece has seen a 700% increase in grading.” — Brian Lut (00:30)
  • Store demand still dominated by Pokémon (60% of sales).
  • Ongoing challenge: adjust inventory as non-sport TCG demand explodes.

[30:56 & 31:47]

• Pokémon remains king for sales; at the grand opening, Elite Trainer Boxes (ETBs) sold out fast.
• The line between collecting vs. playing TCGs is shifting with more cards being graded and collected, especially for Pokémon, while Magic the Gathering still leans more towards play.

Quote:
“We opened this store...it’s definitely sports leaning...but 60% of ourselves have been Pokémon.”
— Ryan Alford [30:15]

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2. College Cards, NIL, and On It Collaborations

[01:51–08:41]

• Leonard from On It recaps a triumphant NCAA wrestling championship for On It’s athletes (especially Penn State), and how the store’s grand opening featured NIL-backed trading cards.
• Opening On It NIL packs at the event drove engagement and excitement.
• Value of NIL cards rising: connects fandom, collection, and direct player support.
• Plans for national championship commemorative boxes for top-performing teams (e.g., Penn State wrestling, possible UConn dual titles in men’s and women’s basketball).

Quote:
“At least with On It cards...you got a collectible to go there.”
— Leonard [04:03]

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3. College Basketball March Madness Update

[04:42–07:29; 24:44–28:17]

• Heavy tournament talk: Nebraska and Texas’ surprise performances; women’s bracket dominated by #1 seeds (UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, Texas).
• On It likely to produce commemorative sets for champions.
• Humorous bracket banter: Ryan boasts a 94% pick rate but lost his champion; Bella confesses, “10.6% to be exact” correct [24:05].
• Coaching shakeups: UNC’s firing of Hubert Davis after major tournament missteps.

Quote:
“If you're a Penn State fan...get these cards. We've got them here at Collector Station. We sold them at the grand opening. We got more and more people asking about [them].”
— Ryan Alford [02:56]

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4. In-Store Experience: Collector Station Grand Opening

[14:17–15:57]

• Grand opening drew huge crowds—“wall to wall for four hours”—with personalities like Mike Baker attending.
• Shared stories about high-value card grading and new grading technologies (e.g., mint cases for PSA slabs).
• Shop-owner’s window into the hobby’s “irrational” elements: market quirks that “don’t make logical sense but are still working.”
  • E.g.: consolidation of grading companies and single-manufacturer dominance.

Quote:
“We had a huge sales day. Everybody really came out to support us...could not have asked for better.”
— Ryan Alford [15:57]

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5. Grading, Data, & the Hobby’s Efficiency vs. Fun

[16:46–22:45]

• Debate over market consolidation, grading companies, and whether data has enhanced or diluted the hobby’s enjoyment.
• PSA dominates grading, but who is the “Pepsi to their Coke”?
• Tension over data policing: empowered customers but challenges for shop owners.
• Frustrations over the lack of standardized, centralized price data for cards.

Quote:
“I don't think data has made the hobby less fun. I think the lack of centralized assistive data is hurting.”
— Ryan Alford [21:49]

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6. Major Hobby News: Whatnot Lawsuit & Topps Conference

[19:01–20:26]

• NEXT WEEK: Topps Industry Conference in Arizona—anticipation for news, but all eyes are on the ripple effects of the civil suit involving Whatnot.
• Conversation about needing “guardrails” in the hobby, particularly for repack products and break odds.

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7. New Product Releases & Market Saturation

[29:55–34:50]

• National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) signs multi-year deal with Panini—positive move for women’s sports cards.
• TOPPS/Bowman “U Now March Madness” (men’s and women’s) launches; direct-to-consumer; features three autos, three numbered parallels per box.
• Concern over too many product releases and consumer fatigue balanced by desire for “the shiny new thing.”
• “Perfect Order” Pokémon set considered underwhelming by in-house expert, but everything Pokémon sells.

Quote:
“It feels like there’s so many releases happening all at once.”
— Brian Lut [34:00]

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8. Collector Realism: Market Dynamics, Base Cards, and Kids

[36:33–37:54]

• Exacting the “price to possibility” ratio for opening product: value for money and thrill of a big hit.
• Base cards unloved, even by kids—the show gives away a giant bin of them, but they’re often left untouched.

Quote:
“Nobody wants base cards. Nash just walked by. That's my son. He doesn't like base cards either.”
— Ryan Alford [37:35]

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9. Final Thoughts

[38:21–39:22]

• Store opening a success, plenty of new releases, and ongoing updates to the online inventory.
• Invitation for listeners to connect via the Collector Nation app and website.
• Gratefulness for hobby engagement and community support.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Leonard (On It):
  “That's one of the cool things about collecting On It cards in today's NIL day and age...at least with On It cards, you got a collectible to go there.” [03:43–04:03]

• Ryan Alford (on data and fun):
  “I don't think data has made the hobby less fun. I think the lack of centralized assistive data is hurting.” [21:49]

• Bill (on White Sox):
  “They're going to win 65 to 70 games this year.” [10:02]

• Brian Lut (on bad bracket luck):
  “10.6% to be exact is how much I have correct.” [24:05]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• TCG Boom, especially One Piece & Yu-Gi-Oh!: [00:30], [29:56], [30:56]
• NIL College Cards & NCAA Recap (Leonard, On It): [01:49–08:41]
• Collector Station Shop Grand Opening Story: [14:17–15:57]
• Discussion: Grading, Data, Market Efficiency: [16:46–22:45]
• Hobby News: Whatnot Lawsuit & Topps Conference: [19:01–20:26]
• Product Release Saturation: [33:17–34:50]
• “Perfect Order” Pokémon Set Preview: [35:08–35:52]
• Base Card “Dilemma”: [37:23–37:54]
• Wrap-up & Community Info: [38:21–39:22]

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Tone and Takeaways

• The episode blends inside-baseball shopkeeper candor, collecting wisdom, and a dash of comedic banter (especially about bad March Madness brackets and White Sox hopefulness).
• If you’re an enthusiast keeping an eye on the shift in TCGs, the growth of women’s sports cards, new NIL opportunities, or the practical realities of owning a LCS (local card store), this episode is a must-listen.
• Underneath all the trends and hot takes: a celebration of collecting’s sense of community and dynamic change.

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Transcript

[Ryan Alford]

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[Brian Lut]

TCG is really growing in the hobby, especially One Piece and Yu Gi oh. One piece has seen a 700% increase in grading.

[Ryan Alford]

That's crazy. Back to the store. We hear it. A lot of people asking for it, but 60% of ourselves have been Pokemon.

[Bill]

When I traded derivatives for 25 years, if someone's been doing it, I just picked the brain because I'm like that person already made the mistakes. I don't want to make those so it's cheaper. And I don't care how many businesses you've opened and run, anytime you join in anything, certain humility and curiosity that needs to happen if you're going to be an entrepreneur.

[Ryan Alford]

I don't think data has made the hobby less fun. I think the lack of centralized assistive data is hurting. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast. Here on the Collector Nation Network. Whether you're chasing grails or calling bluffs, we take you inside the hobby. Here are your hosts, Ryan Offer and Brian Lut. Hey, what's up, guys? It's our weekly tie in with on it, one of our great partners here on Collector Nation. And we've got Leonard, who's been here the last time. I'm gonna. Hey, he's just Leonard now. Leonard with on it. What's up, Leonard?

[Leonard]

Hey, Ryan, how you doing? Good to be back, man.

[Ryan Alford]

Hey, man, it's the champions week. I tell you what, you guys know how to pick the teams. That's all I'm gonna say. I think you loaded it up. Someone needs to get a raise in the picking that on it supports they're all champions all the time. Sounds like wrestling had a big week.

[Leonard]

Yeah, big weekend for On It Wrestlers at the NCAA national championships for Penn State. The dynasty rolls on. I mean, fifth straight team title, which is crazy. They wrapped it up super early, like before championship wrestling matches even began for individuals. That's how dominant they were, just getting to the finals. So crazy stuff from them. They broke their own score record that they set last year. I mean, this is a dynasty full fledged. We saw had four guys win titles in Their individual weight classes. Luke Lidall at 125, Mitchell Messenbrink at 165, Levi Haynes at 174, and then Josh Barr at 197. So the Penn State dynasty rolls on. But Oklahoma State snuck some titles in there, too. A couple of our guys, Jax Forest at 133 pounds, and then Sergio Vega at 141 pounds, also picked up titles. So that was. That was pretty sweet to see.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, man. If you're a Penn State fan, I don't even need to tell you what to do. You need to get out there and get these cards. We've got them here at Collector Station. We sold them at the grand opening. We got more and more people asking about this is how you support your teams, how you support, obviously, their legacy. But guess what? You're not just doing it, like writing that check for. Oh, just something dull. These are cool cards. We. We took some great videos. I was telling you earlier, Leonard, before we got on air, like, opening those baseball cards, we had the place lit up because everybody was here for the grand opening. And my friend who's like Clemson baseball's greatest fan was going through those Camarilla or Canelo, I can't remember his name, but one of her favorite guys. And I'm not as close to the Clemson baseball as she is, but she was like, every player knew who they were. And the shine and the glitter. She got some pretty good hits, too. Yeah.

[Leonard]

And that's one of the cool things about, like, collecting on it cards in today's nil day and age, like you mentioned, like, there's a lot of people who can and will just write checks straight to universities and athletes. And really all you get in return is whatever the results are on the quarter on the field. Yeah. At least with on it cards, you

[Ryan Alford]

got a collectible to go there.

[Leonard]

Yeah.

[Bill]

You.

[Ryan Alford]

At least I'm looking up the values on some of these, man. I mean, I know that we. We're not really here to push on it as like, okay, this multimillion dollar, you know, investment that, you know, like this investment class. That's not the point of these cards, but let's just say those values are creeping up there, man.

[Leonard]

Yeah, they definitely are. I mean, performances on the field always help. And I think as more people, like, the college trading card space really hasn't been explored in a lot of different ways. You know, you're seeing more and more people kind of pop up and try to do what we're doing right now because of you know, the monopoly licenses that we're seeing going on at the higher levels.

[Ryan Alford]

And hey, man, March Madness. It was madness. It's funny. Every tournament's different.

[Leonard]

Yeah, it's. It's rough. We still have quite a few teams left. Thankfully, you know, we're down to. In a lot of these regions. Just one team left on the men's and women's side. Like, the east only got Yukon to south. We got Nebraska. By the time this episode comes out, we'll know whether or not they got past Iowa. I think they're going to do it. I think Nebraska could be in the Final Four this year. Truly. I think they have. If Houston goes down to Illinois, I think they have the easiest path to walk to get to the Final Four. So that would be crazy.

[Ryan Alford]

To Nebraska is probably like. Of all these teams, like, I'm a. I'm a college basketball guy, but obviously it's hard to watch every team a lot. I hadn't caught Nebraska this year. They have really turned my eye in the tournament. They've looked really, really good, really dominant. And I mean, that's been a. I mean, there are four seeds. It's not like. I mean, they obviously had a good season, but they have looked great.

[Leonard]

Yeah, they've picked it up in the tournament, especially kind of, you know, I mean, they started 22 and oh. And then fell off a little bit down the stretch. But they've looked awesome. Texas has shocked me. I thought Texas was going out to BYU in the first round. I was like, if they beat NC State, whatever, because they're going to lose to BYU and AJ Dibon, that obviously didn't happen. And now they're playing for lead eight spot against Purdue. So one of our on it teams is going to the Elite Eight for sure. And then on the women's side, all the number one seeds have just been so dominant, like Yukon, South Carolina, UCLA, Texas. They're winning games by 30, 40 points. Madison Booker dropped 40 points on Oregon. I mean, like you said at the start of this, the teams that we're

[Ryan Alford]

picking really well, I'm going to go on a limb here, Leonardo. At least on the women's side, I think an on it team is going to win the title.

[Leonard]

Yeah. When you got all four number one seeds, I think.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah. And they're kicking everybody's ass. Let's just tell it like it is like. But I will say this, all right.

[Leonard]

Yeah, they. They're definitely, I think, a team that surprised a lot of people just the way they were up and down all season long. And I mean, if they make it to the Final Four, that'd be awesome. Obviously, we'd love to have our teams win a championship like usual. And one of the cool things about our teams winning championships and one of the awesome agreements that we have is that we actually have the opportunity to produce boxes for national champions. We did it earlier this year. We had an Indiana Hoosiers commemorative football box. We talked about Penn State wrestling winning their team title. Their national championship box just went live on our website. So it kind of like commemorates the whole season for all these teams. So if a men's or women's basketball team wins the title, too, that's something that we're going to be very excited to hopefully produce as long as it's one of our teams. So, you know, we might have a ucon men's basketball and women's basketball commemorative box celebrating both of their 25, 26 seasons.

[Ryan Alford]

It gets real. That don't say there's how to get them. And they're. They're dialed in right now. I don't know. I don't know if they're going to be UConn, but I think they're going to beat Oklahoma. We'll see. Anything can happen. But the good thing is, hey, these guys right now's the time to buy and they start going up in one of these wins. So you need to get out, check out on it, come to Collector Station. We're on all throughout the store. We mentioned them. And of course, Leonard's going to tell you where else you can find them and buy or pick up up any of the stuff we've been talking about.

[Leonard]

Yep, you can check us out online onathlete.com that's our website. You go there, you can peruse the whole selection, whether it's winter sports, fall sports, upcoming spring sports releases. You can check it all out there. If you're into live ribbon ships, we do those on TikTok and whatnot pretty much weekly as well. On it. Athlete. Just all one word on both platforms. You can find us there. So if you feel the need to get some Joyce Edwards, South Carolina women's basketball cards in your life, those are the places to go. She's only a sophomore, man, she's got a long way to climb.

[Ryan Alford]

It's crazy. Crazy how good could be talking about one of the greatest ever. You never know. But hey, what you got to do is get on it. O N I T all one word. We appreciate you, Leonard. We'll see you next week.

[Leonard]

Thanks, Ryan. Always Good to be here.

[Ryan Alford]

See you guys. What's up, guys? Welcome to Collector Nation. It's Ryan and Brian. Brian and Ryan. Here on a Friday. It is opening day week. Opening day week. Yes, Ryan. I mean, you know, you're, you're committed when you pull the White Sox jersey.

[Bill]

The last few times I wore it on the show, you know, like, I, I, they don't, they haven't given me a reason to wear it, so I wear it on the show and I put it back in my closet.

[Ryan Alford]

True fan. True fan. When you're, you know, somehow Chicago guy ends up a White. I know. It happens because clearly there's two teams, which is the strangest thing ever. But that aside, it's not easy being a White Sox fan.

[Bill]

No, you're just. I was born into a South side Irish guy. There's no choice.

[Ryan Alford]

Exactly.

[Bill]

You take a good with the bad. That's why I wear the World Series jersey from, whatever, 21 years ago.

[Ryan Alford]

Do we want to just start the episode with any predictions for the White Sox that you'd like to get on record here for our show?

[Bill]

Oh, well, I mean, the division is decent. Detroit's good, Cleveland's good. So, yeah, I think they're going to win. What do they win, like four, 45 games?

[Leonard]

55 games.

[Bill]

They're going to win 70, 65 to 70 games this year.

[Ryan Alford]

A road to acceptability. Hey, you're reasonable.

[Bill]

You know, at this pace, if they pick up two, two games a year, like in 40, like 20 years, we'll be, we'll have a good team.

[Ryan Alford]

What is like the reasonable upside for the White Sox, like blow things out of. I mean, do they have the potential to win 100 games this year?

[Bill]

No, but they get the first pick in the draft next year. There's a shortstop out of UCLA that's, that's supposed to be the best shortstop since two. Oh, Tulitzki. And they have the number two or three prospect, top 100. They got like seven guys. They're really young, uber young. So this is not the year, like they need, you know, they need these guys to, to grow up. But yeah, they're super young team. They don't have tons of upside this year. But like, I don't mind watching a young team as they grow. The worst is watching an overpaid team fail.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, exactly. Like a bunch of old dudes that there sort of has beens and there's no upside and they aren't playing as well as they are getting paid to play.

[Bill]

Yeah, they don't give it they don't give a shit. Why would I give a shit?

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, exactly. So we'll see who's. Who's the best player in baseball right now?

[Bill]

Ohtani.

[Ryan Alford]

I mean. Yeah.

[Bill]

I mean, yeah. Yeah.

[Leonard]

Ohtani's like.

[Bill]

I mean, Trout has just, like, gotten buried, man, like, in the hobby. Like, in the hobby. His cards are cheap, man.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah. I would have never thought that day would come.

[Bill]

Like, my son picked up at the card show, like, picked up some Trout autos that, like, would have been, I don't even know, 3x what? Or three years ago, four years ago.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah. So Ohtani just. Dude, you want to pitch and hit? I mean, come on. I still, like. I don't know. It's kind of like Bo Jackson when I think about him. Like, there's not been an all star in football and baseball. Like, the ridiculous of how good of an athlete he was. I don't know if we can do enough, like, true service to what he's doing.

[Bill]

No, I mean, just one league. He and Dion did it. I think that's the last ones to do it. But if you're gonna do it, it's gonna be football, baseball. I mean, basketball players are great athletes in their own right, but have you ever seen a basketball player throw out a first pitch?

[Ryan Alford]

Absolutely not. They're not good. No.

[Bill]

50. It's like 50 Cent not good.

[Ryan Alford]

Yes. Check that out. Good.

[Bill]

If you haven't seen that first pitch.

[Leonard]

50 seconds.

[Bill]

First pitch.

[Ryan Alford]

He bounced it up there a few times. I don't know if I've seen it.

[Bill]

Yeah. You guys see it? I mean, it went, like, this way, but then down. Like, it. Like, I don't know if he ever threw a baseball in his life.

[Ryan Alford]

Oh, God, that's disappointing.

[Bill]

So that was my. When I threw the ball off of the Rangers, that was my.

[Ryan Alford]

You got it there. I saw the video of that.

[Bill]

I can't be worse than that, right?

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[Ryan Alford]

You look like you knew what you're doing. How's.

[Bill]

How was your opening, dude?

[Ryan Alford]

It was great. We, we were wall to wall. We opened the doors. We did 12 to 6. Probably had 30, 40 people in line when we opened. And it was honestly, you know, you do all that build up. We had some giveaways and different things like that. It was just wall to wall for four, like four hours. And my team did great. And I was just walking around kissing babies, shaking hands and mean people and, you know, had Mike Baker here. Mike Baker authenticated? Yeah. Should go. Go look that up. If you don't know who my Baker is, best grader on the planet. He. He was here. Brian Perrops was here. Who does. If you are listening or familiar with Brian, he does a lot. Pretty popular, like going around different card shows. Met him at the national when I met Baker back a couple years ago. And he's making the mint cases that are like the uber premium PSA cases. They're pretty sweet. And he brought me my Caleb. I should have that. I'll bring that back. Well, Caleb Bella's running an errand. I. Picking up Nash for me. My Caleb Williams rookie card. My color blast. That rated 9.5 out Mike Baker. It's in this case. We'll. We'll have that for next week. That'll be. Do you do.

[Bill]

Do you take the 95 and give it to PSA?

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, I'll send it to my mint case in that. It's like a thousand dollar case. This thing's like made of glass and kryptonite. It's like, it's heavy, man. It's like. It's like £5. I don't know. I don't know what he is. It's gorgeous. I'll have a trophy for showing off. And anyway, he. He was here. We had a good time. We went to dinner the night before and then we. But it was wall to wall, man. The great. I couldn't even, you know, we posted on social media thanking everybody. I mean, we had a huge sales day. Everybody really came out to support us. And it was. Couldn't have asked for better. So how about this? I'm going to ask you a couple. I'll answer, but I'll give you a couple. What's. What's something the market is doing right now, the hobby market, that doesn't make logical sense but is still working.

[Bill]

I would say consolidation of grading companies or one manufacturer manufacturing the cards.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, yeah. Still it's working. But how is it really the best?

[Bill]

What do you think?

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, I mean, I jumped on and I didn't stay on long enough to actually hear if it got answered, so that's my fault. But Jeff Wilson was doing Last Night Live for Sports Card. His show, like, at 7pm is on me and Nashville is, you know, Boys Gone Wild week. Nicole and Hogan are out of town. Older boys are with my ex. And so it's just me and Nash. And so Boys Gone Wild, we were just YouTubing it up, watching pack openings, opening packs, and literally Jeff. Jeff popped up. Hey, Live going on now. So I watched it. I jumped in there and like, I asked him a question. I was like. Because it was like Q and A night. And I asked, you know, who is going to be the AT&T to PSA? Like, Verizon is, you know, Verizon and ATT, kind of the behemoth in wireless. And I spent a lot of time in wireless and, you know, spent a lot of time working on Verizon in particular. And it was always, you know, AT and T was the foil. But it made both companies better. Right. Because you had competition.

[Bill]

Pepsi, Coke.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, Pepsi. Coke. Who's the Pepsi? If PSA is the Coke, who's Pepsi? Who's the challenger? And is it good that they don't have one? I don't know if they ever answered that question. Like I said, Nash's attention span didn't last long enough on that show.

[Bill]

I think there's a vetting process, like. And he's like, that's a. That's too complicated.

[Ryan Alford]

Probably. It was probably too. I was like, even when I read it, aback, I'm like, probably too serious. Like, I'm getting down, you know, like, that's a. That's not an easy one to answer.

[Bill]

That's funny.

[Ryan Alford]

But, yeah, it's like one. One grading company and everyone's grading everything, it seems like. So it's like, I don't know how much. And PSA's even by raising prices to do what they're doing, they're actually saying, slow down.

[Bill]

No, they just make more money, which is good.

[Leonard]

So There's.

[Bill]

Next week is the TOPS industry conference and it's in Arizona. And I'm. Every year they seem to have like a new announcement there that kind of reflects the industry, but I don't think they can make anything bigger than what happened to whatnot, you know, went with that civil suit. So like, whatever Tops does now, it's like not even comparable to the ripples of what I think the whatnot case could be.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah. Bella and I talked about it last week when you were traveling and we might as well. But you're probably not wrong. I mean, I. I don't want the government any more involved and I hate litigious. Unnecessary litigious. But I also did agree that there probably needs to be a few guardrails. Yeah. That there aren't. So I can agree. I can agree and disagree at the same time. You know, like, not every. Not everything's black and white. Part of me is like, stay the hell out of it. People are buying packs. If they're buying breaks of and they're buying a team, you get that team's players. However, on the repack side of the odds and everything else, where it's not crystal clear what you're getting or not or if what the odds truly were, it gets a little gray.

[Bill]

Yeah.

[Ryan Alford]

A lot gray.

[Bill]

Yeah.

[Ryan Alford]

Has data made the hobby more efficient or less fun? I. I don't know. It's an interesting one.

[Bill]

What do you think?

[Ryan Alford]

I'll say this. I think information is power. And I don't have a problem now as a shop owner with an informed customer. And however it can be a little bit of, you know, playing the comp police at all times. Of. Okay, yeah, this one sold for 400. Yeah. But 12 of them sold for 150. So I know we like that 400, but there was something. Either somebody hit the wrong key or that one included a Michael Jordan autograph.

[Bill]

Like, I mean, cops are hard. Like, I mean, we deal with it all the time. We're the ones giving cops. Right. And people walk in and this lick said this. But like in the fact it's all. It's all just supply and demand. And like it's. You're in front of one person who has to make a decision on their business. And like, you know, it's. You can't play the comp game all the time.

[Ryan Alford]

No, I do think. I don't think data has made the hobby less fun. I think the central is the lack of centralized assistive data.

[Bill]

It's like the.

[Ryan Alford]

It's hurting.

[Bill]

Yeah.

[Leonard]

It's like the financial exchanges.

[Bill]

Like when there was this one. Like the S P 500s.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah.

[Bill]

That S and P 500 would be. Would be the only pit in the world that has it now. It's on five different pits. So now you get all these different. These different. Everything's coming to one place. It's.

[Leonard]

There's a.

[Bill]

You know. You know, I have all the data. Everyone has the data. It's splintered in cards. That's. That's for sure. Like, cards are splintered and. Yeah, it's interesting. Data is tough.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, exactly. What. How's your bracket? Did you do a bracket? You probably are too busy even do a damn bracket.

[Bill]

Nah, I didn't do it. I mean, I like it watching it.

[Ryan Alford]

But Florida, I had winning the title. I had a really good look, Brian. I picked 94% winners in my bracket through now, but I had Florida as the title holder. That Florida loss hurt me. If there were a Florida hangs on right there. I am. Let's just say I'm in like the 95 percentile on ESPN if Florida wins. Yeah, I'm 94% solid, Brian.

[Bill]

Super solid.

[Ryan Alford]

So 94 winners, but I sit in third place in the collector station pool. Bella's back from getting Nash, so she can.

[Brian Lut]

I am in dead last.

[Ryan Alford]

You know what her percentage. I'm gonna let her share this because I don't want to say it out loud.

[Brian Lut]

You know, yesterday I looked at it and it was like 11. 11. It was really pitiful.

[Ryan Alford]

You could throw darts at a dartboard, do better than 11.

[Brian Lut]

And usually, like, you know, I can hold my own. I go purely based based on vibes. Like, I don't watch basketball any other time of the year except March Madness. And the vibes led me astray.

[Ryan Alford]

If you'd have just picked like, high, low, like low. Like probably 60%.

[Brian Lut]

Well, I mean, so I. 10.6% to be exact.

[Ryan Alford]

Wow.

[Brian Lut]

Is how much I have. Correct.

[Ryan Alford]

I want to know what percentile that is. Is that like 5 percentile?

[Brian Lut]

Oh, I don't even know. I only have. My max is 930 points. Currently, I only have 330 points.

[Ryan Alford]

Wow.

[Brian Lut]

And gave me an ice 1200.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, you're ice cold. I had like 120011 something, I think. But my. But I'm capped because of my champion losing. So I need. I need. I need some. I need some. If I get chaos. If we can get like Michigan and Arizona and Duke, we can't have any of them win. You know, the other three, they're probably Going to win?

[Brian Lut]

Yep. Well, I have another bracket that has Duke winning and another one that has Purdue winning. And those ones are doing, I mean, better than the other one. So March.

[Ryan Alford]

It's more like March sadness for you.

[Brian Lut]

Okay, okay, Mr. Dad jokes.

[Ryan Alford]

You should change your bracket to March Sadness.

[Brian Lut]

Yeah, I'll have to do the second chance bracket.

[Ryan Alford]

Maybe I'll do better there. Something.

[Brian Lut]

But you know, bumps and lost. So.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, they totally did. And Furman. So yeah, somebody. I had to get someone to share the score with me because I didn't see the game, but I heard they did lose.

[Brian Lut]

You saw it in the near distance.

[Ryan Alford]

What are you saying? It's kind of like I saw that train out there. You know, like. So we went to dinner Friday night and Bella, all I said was, we need to see TVs. And to her credit, there was TVs in the periphery. Unfortunately. You know, I'm not that old, but it was about 100ft away. I couldn't even squint and see the scoreboard. I could almost tell which team was which. And all I know is Clemson lost.

[Brian Lut]

Okay, see, you can't blame your eyesight issues on me.

[Ryan Alford]

Okay, well, it was still clearly 50ft away. But yes, I take that up with the hostess, I guess. But yeah, but Clemson lost. That's all that matters. Maybe it just saved me from the agony. I mean, having to watch every basket and I go in.

[Brian Lut]

Furman also lost. I stayed up till 1am watching.

[Ryan Alford]

That was a great game. That was much better. I actually enjoyed watching that game. I wanted them to win, obviously, but they've represented the state properly. Yeah, unlike Clemson did. Look, we got hurt by our guy lose. Freaking Carter Welling blowing his knee out. The acc, we just weren't deep in. We. We didn't have quite enough talent to lose our second best score.

[Brian Lut]

Did you see a UNC just completely fired their coach?

[Ryan Alford]

Okay, let me go on record right here. I told Nicole. We were watching that game together. I said, Hubert Davis deserves to be fired and will be fired after that game. And I said it actually before the game was over, before they actually lost, they got called for a five second call because their guy didn't throw the ball in. They were up for like 2 or 3. It was the deciding factor of. Of VCU even having a chance to get it overtime.

[Brian Lut]

Yeah.

[Ryan Alford]

And I said Hubert Davis should be fired. He should have called a timeout right there because his guy let it get to five seconds where he didn't throw the ball. And they had a timeout. And I Said that's coaching. Coaching to either tell him you should call the timeout or you call the timeout for him. Yep. I said incompetence. And I look, I got, I don't know. Hubert Davis, I got nothing against him, but he's not been North Carolina standard. He played there. Don't. Nothing personal, but not good enough. North Carolina now.

[Brian Lut]

Yeah. That, that was a. A mistake that easily could have been avoided especially.

[Ryan Alford]

And then on top of that, they haven't been where they should be. I mean North Carolina is a top 2, 3 program in the country. They should be. They should. They should never dip past like top five, seven, like bad years should be top seven. They got everything. They got their support. They got the historic history, the NBA players. Thus. I mean money. Like there's. Yeah, North Carolina should be. There's no excuse for two in a year. Three years in a row. First round once we. You know, he did great his first year. Went to title game, didn't win. But it's been downhill since. And I hate it for him. Good guy. But that coaching.

[Brian Lut]

Yeah. I'm interested to see who they'll fill that position with.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, I think they'll go outside the program. I think it'll be a big name and they'll make a lot of money. Yeah, for sure. And have a lot. Look, now you don't have to replace, you know, Roy Williams. You get to replace the guy that didn't do so great. So this is perfect. Like someone. Yeah. Yeah. You to come in with like you're at bottom. Yeah. You're saving the day. So you get a little more grace and time to like get it together. And if you're a great coach, which they will hire, then they'll be good.

[Brian Lut]

No, that's true. Well, more on the the card side of things, National Women's Soccer League signed a multi year deal with Panini, which is exciting for women's sports. I think we've seen, you know, in the just past year, year or two, like women's sports is becoming a lot more of a hot topic. So I'm kind of excited to see where they take that.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah. You know, I've been a proponent and talked about the WNBA product. Enjoy. Open those. We got a lot of those in the store. And I know the soccer players and soccer players a whole is getting more popular and with the World cup here this year.

[Leonard]

Yep.

[Ryan Alford]

So Panini's got to sign some things. They don't have the major sports so you know, it makes sense.

[Brian Lut]

But I mean, I think it Was a smart move because I think they have a big opportunity there, like you said, with the World cup, and I think it'll be good. So I'm excited to see what those look like, especially because I think Panini makes some of the coolest art.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah.

[Brian Lut]

And so I'm sad to see them go on the football side of things, but I think they'll do some good things. There should be good. But also, I mean, TCG is really growing in the hobby, especially One Piece and Yu Gi. Oh. I mean, one piece has seen a 7. 700% increase in grading.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah. That's crazy. You know, and I mean, back to the store, we hear it, a lot of people asking for it. We carry a few things, but not a ton. And so we're seeing increases. And then, look, we opened this store. It's definitely sports leaning, and my boys and I are more into sports, but we did open, but 60% of ourselves have been Pokemon.

[Brian Lut]

Yeah. So, I mean, at the grand opening, the. We couldn't keep the ETV's on the shelf.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah.

[Brian Lut]

At all. So, I mean, they were gone, like, halfway through the event.

[Ryan Alford]

I know. So it was. It's. It's big. And the grading thing is now hitting, like, every facet. So everybody wants to know what they have and what, you know, the quality is, and they want to see that bump in value. And everybody thinks they have a 10, even though they're likely eights or sevens. We know this firsthand.

[Brian Lut]

I'm curious as to how, like, obviously, you know, tcg, they're made to play. So I'm curious as to what percentage of people, because I'm sure when, like, Pokemon first came out and stuff like that, people were obviously playing mostly more than just trading them. So a lot of those cards are either destroyed or, like, heavily used.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah.

[Brian Lut]

But now that there's so much upside value to them, I'm curious as to what the percentage of people who are actually playing the games versus just collecting the cards.

[Ryan Alford]

I would say yes, would be like 60 collecting and 40 playing.

[Brian Lut]

I. I mean, I also think it depends. Like, I know, like, Magic the Gathering has.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah. I think it's more playing.

[Brian Lut]

Yeah, that's more playing.

[Ryan Alford]

But Pokemon, I'd guess 60, 40, 70, 30 collecting versus playing. And I think, you know, five or six years ago, it was probably more playing. But now in last 10 years, especially the probably more collecting.

[Brian Lut]

So we're like, playing in penny sleeves.

[Ryan Alford]

Yep, exactly. Well, that's true. I think you will do that anyway. I think. I don't know.

[Brian Lut]

I'VE personally never played, so I tried to play Magic the Gathering once and almost cried out of frustration. So just not for me. That's okay. But we do have the tops 2025, 2026, Bowman U. Now March Madness Bas, and it's direct to consumers. So that's drop or dropped two days ago.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah.

[Brian Lut]

And it's highlighting men's and women's college stars. Three autos, three numbered parallels. So I think that that's a really, really good set, especially with everything happening in college sports right now.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah. It must be interesting how those sales compare to Tops from basketball in general. I mean, obviously the university product. But, you know, there's. I still think it's somewhat limited. I think they're printing runs on this stuff, so it's probably gonna be popular. I was kind of in a wait and see mode, but problem was with this top stuff, man, if you wait see mode, it's gone before. Before you. If you decide you want to have in the store, it's already sold out everywhere. So I.

[Brian Lut]

Okay, I have a question for you.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah.

[Brian Lut]

Do you think that there. That across all the brands, too many, like, different releases are happening all at the same time? Because I feel like every week there's at least three releases that are happening in any given week. So does the market just become oversaturated with releases that half of them don't mean anything anyway?

[Ryan Alford]

Tops would probably agree with you. I think that's why their goal is to reduce SKUs. But y' all talking about different sports.

[Brian Lut]

That is true.

[Ryan Alford]

Basketball, football, baseball, soccer, Pokemon. I mean, you got a lot of variety there. That's not that somebody collects basketball. They might not be into football. They might.

[Brian Lut]

I guess it's hard having a store because you see, like, it's constantly, like, we have new products coming in, like, every day.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah.

[Brian Lut]

And so I guess maybe it feels like there's so much, so many releases happening all at once.

[Ryan Alford]

It does. And there are. And it's a lot to keep up with the store. I think sometimes it feels like there's too many. But I do think if you really look at, like, someone that collects only basketball, it's not that often they collect only football, only baseball. You know, there's so there's a lot of sports and a lot of coverage. And you got college and you got non college, you got pro. And so a lot of variation there. But I don't know. I'm also the type that, hey, there's new ones.

[Brian Lut]

Yeah. And I guess that that's probably like, you Know, do you want the new shiny sparkly thing?

[Ryan Alford]

Yes, yes we do.

[Brian Lut]

Yeah. So I mean they're just capitalizing on that. So I get it.

[Ryan Alford]

So as this show releases perfect order, the new Pokemon Mega Evolution set. Supposedly our in house Pokemon expert Cole says it's kind of a dud of a, of a set.

[Brian Lut]

Oh really?

[Ryan Alford]

Not gonna be very popular. So I still think it'll sell well because everything Pokemon sells well.

[Brian Lut]

True.

[Ryan Alford]

But looking at some of the values and things like that, it's kind of on the.

[Brian Lut]

I mean because they just released Ascended Heroes so it's like that was such a huge release.

[Ryan Alford]

Bella, we need new stuff every few months.

[Brian Lut]

I know, I know, I know. And like the 30th anniversary, I know they're coming out with release on that soon and I'm sure that that's coming like going to be bigger than even Ascended Heroes or Prismatic.

[Ryan Alford]

So yeah, it will be and I think demand will still be there on some level, but I think that's kind of. Yeah, that's what I've seen. It looks that way.

[Brian Lut]

It'll be interesting in like a year seeing like the data of, of which products kind of withstand withstood the test of time and which ones were just

[Ryan Alford]

like, you know, as for sure. And it's like for me as a store owner, I don't care like I want to sell whatever people want, provide variety and don't and want to serve the customers. But as a collector, I open Pokemon for the chance at the most valuable card. And also I like the art. I enjoy opening it because art's cool, but it's really about what's the lowest priced pack I can open with the highest probability of a high card.

[Brian Lut]

Isn't that the age old question?

[Ryan Alford]

Yes. And Perfect Order has a lower percentage so far their, their top end cards aren't like what the new like Ascended Heroes. You can get a thousand dollar card now that I pulled it.

[Brian Lut]

Yep.

[Ryan Alford]

The Gengar.

[Brian Lut]

And you didn't record it.

[Ryan Alford]

Yes, but it happened and it's in the case where it was. Unless we sold it.

[Brian Lut]

No, no.

[Ryan Alford]

And so okay, it's good price to possibility ratio then versus versus literally opening something. Okay. The upside's $10 I think thousand dollars. But I do think it's only maybe like one couple hundred dollar card or something there so far that's kind of like that doesn't get me excited. But I'm not just wonderful.

[Brian Lut]

We can run. Like you remember a few years back when everyone on Reddit made Gamestop like stocks go through the roof. What if we can do that with some trading cards? Take like, base cards and.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, I don't know about base cards. That's not gonna happen. Basically nobody wants space cards. Nash offered. Loves some base cards. Nash just walked by. That's my son. He doesn't like base cards either. I just thought I was saying, oh, you know, little kids will like these base cards. No, they don't. They throw them away, too.

[Brian Lut]

Yep. We have for, for the listeners, we have a huge bin of just a bunch of base cards that kids can take.

[Ryan Alford]

And they're not like the worst ones either. Like, there's decent ones and it's like, nah, they don't want that.

[Brian Lut]

Yeah, my, my roommate's a teacher, so I'll. I'll shovel them to her. And it. The next day, it looks like the bin hasn't even been touched.

[Ryan Alford]

Yep. But there you have it.

[Brian Lut]

Yep.

[Ryan Alford]

We got some big releases. Store opening was great. Brian had to run. He's got to run a company, man. He's got things to do. Any final thoughts or anything else we need to cover?

[Brian Lut]

Nope, I. I got Nothing. All right.

[Ryan Alford]

CollectorNation.com the CollectorNation.

[Brian Lut]

Yep.com Download our app on iOS and Android.

[Ryan Alford]

Yep. It's all there. All the content, all the highlight clips, ways to get in touch with us and thecollectorstation.com if you want to see the inventory we have in the store or buy singles or seal prod, we'll seal it to you. And hey, it's all good. Got a lot of good selection. Lot of getting the website up to date. We've got probably 85% of singles on there now, so we got a few more coming, but it updates it regularly and we get a lot of stuff, new stuff in as. As we're talking, we're evaluating collections. We got a lot of stuff. So, Bill, appreciate you jumping on the end and all the hard work on the show.

[Brian Lut]

Of course. Love to be here.

[Ryan Alford]

We appreciate you guys. We know you have options. We appreciate you for making us one of them. We'll see you next time, Collector Nation. Thanks for tuning in to the show. Be sure to follow us on your go to podcast platform and catch the full video episode over on YouTube. Visit [e-mail] and follow Ryan on Instagram. Ryan Alford. Now get out there and collect yours.

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