*By: Madison Alworth*
Matthew Nordgren followed in the pro football footsteps of his father, and now in retirement, he's drawn inspiration from his father's experience to launch a career in the cannabis business.
"The people who played with him at that time are suffering from all sorts of illnesses and pains, you name it," Nordgren said in an interview with Cheddar. "So it started to also become a passion in my family to try to help people my dad's age to try to deal with sleep and pain and all the things they are going through. A lot of personal reasons to be in it."
Nordgren's father George spent time in the NFL as a running back for the Dallas Cowboys. As Matthew explains it, the 70-year-old and his aging football friends are feeling the repercussions of playing a physically demanding sport for much of their career. And the younger Nordgren saw an opportunity there.
Himself a former player for the Philadelphia Eagles, he went on to a career in private equity and now is the founder and CEO of Arcadian Fund and Arcadian Capital Management, a venture capital firm in Los Angeles specializing in ancillary cannabis businesses. Among the company's investments is the publication "High Times," which is set [to go public](https://hightimes.com/news/high-times-pots-most-established-brand-going-public/) later this year. He said these kinds of secondary businesses sit better with the company's clients.
"Because we had a lot of assets that were highly regulated, highly publicized, our investor base and our current portfolio were assets that really didn't have a lot of comfort in the plant-touching side of the business. So we knew right away that 'High Times' and our background sort of led us to the ancillary side."
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/matthew-nordgren-on-his-break-into-the-cannabis-industry)
Cheddar News checks in on what to look out for on The Day Ahead. March Madness continues with the remaining Sweet 16 teams in the tournament while 'John Wick 4' makes its debut in theaters nationwide.
Willis Reed, who dramatically emerged from the locker room minutes before Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals to spark the New York Knicks to their first championship and create one of sports’ most enduring examples of playing through pain, has died. He was 80.
Shohei Ohtani emerged from the bullpen and fanned Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout for the final out in a matchup the whole baseball world wanted to see, leading Japan over the defending champion United States 3-2 for its first World Baseball Classic title since 2009.
No. 1 seed Indiana Hoosiers have been eliminated from the March Madness women's tournament.
Fanatics is now the official jersey supplier of the National Hockey League, replacing Adidas, and the deal will kick off in the 2024-2025 season.
The NCAA men's tournament is down to the Sweet 16, which kicks off on Thursday.
Trea Turner, Paul Goldschmidt and an unrelenting U.S. lineup kept putting crooked numbers on the scoreboard, a dynamic display of the huge gap between an American team of major leaguers and Cubans struggling on the world stage as top players have left the island nation.
The top four seeds in the tournament were given to South Carolina, Indiana, Virginia Tech and Stanford — and the Cardinal was the first to bow out.
March Madness is heading to the Sweet 16 without a handful of top teams. Two No. 1 seeds, Kansas and Purdue, No. 2 seed Arizona and No. 4 seed Virginia are all gone — and gone with them are millions of busted brackets.
A total of 33 states and the District of Columbia now allow at least some form of sports wagering, but the prospects are mixed for expanding sports betting to additional states this year.
