The weekend’s already upon us, people. Here’s a cool community story: Detroit and the Ford Motor Company pulled back the curtain on a $950 million restoration project of its rundown transportation center and train depot with a bang — a major event that featured the talents of Eminem, Jack White, players from the Detroit Lions, and many others. The project is a microcosm of the major revitalization of Detroit’s downtown funded by local billionaires — an undertaking that hopes to put the car capital back on the map.

In other news… everyone’s writing big checks for NBA games, music stars wrestle with dimming tour prospects, and Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” blooms into a chart hit.

We hope you enjoy this and all upcoming issues, but we have one request: please share your feedback. If you have any thoughts at all about our new look, format, and direction, please reply to this email. It’ll go straight to us. Do not hold back.

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• YouTube – The Killer’s Game

• X (Twitter) – Tom Hanks

• Google – The Hunger Games

• Reddit – Dolly Parton

• TikTok – “Fake Jammin” - Sexyy Red

• Spotify – “Thrown Around” - James Blake

.SPORTS.

The NBA is set to score a blockbuster $76 billion media deal

The Future. The NBA’s first TV negotiations in a decade are set to be a big win for the league thanks to massive checks from NBC, Amazon, and Disney that are recalibrating who the major players are in the sports-rights market. The windfall from the deals will increase annual fees for the NBA by 2.5x to about $7 billion — a multiplier that could send yearly salaries for some top players over $100 million because of players’ share in 51% of the league’s revenue.

Superstar streaming
So, how does the math on the NBA’s $76 billion in media revenue over 11 years break down once the ink dries?

• NBC would pay $2.5 billion per year to show 100 games per season, with half playing exclusively on Peacock (a big win for the streamer).

• Amazon would pay $1.8 billion for regular-season and playoff games to stream on Prime Video and get a chance to exhibit the conference finals.

• Disney would pay $2.6 billion a year for fewer games than its usual package and exclusive rights to the NBA Finals, while also being able to show games on ESPN’s upcoming streamer.

• Warner Bros. Discovery, which has historically always aired NBA games, hasn’t won any rights packages yet but has the option to match an offer.

In other words, everybody has to pay to play.

58.1% of you voted No in yesterday’s poll: Would you ever want your state to establish its own national stock exchange?

“Cue the ‘CEO-friendly’ scandal in 3, 2, 1…”

“Sir, this is a casino.”

“I don’t live in the USA; my state already has its national stock exchange.”

.A WORD FROM OUR FRIENDS AT REGALIER.

The cool people’s secret

REGALIER is a hidden gem in a sea of newsletters, delivering a brilliant curation of stories, pictures, and links to your inbox every day.

They give you stories like:

• Why billionaires are fleeing America

• How Prada is dominating its competition

Next to:

• The weirdest developments in AI

• Clever memes and inspiring art

Sign up now so you can tell people you were in REGALIER before it blew up.

Media, Music, & Entertainment

• Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” has spent 50 weeks atop the Adult Contemporary chart — a first for any song. [Read More]

• Despite Paramount’s independent directors signing off on the Skydance deal, majority shareholder Shari Redstone is reportedly also considering two other offers on the table. [Read More]

• Chamber of Progress, a coalition of tech companies including Apple and Amazon, is launching a campaign to convince people that AI systems should be allowed to be trained on copyrighted material under fair-use law. [Read More]

Fashion & E-Commerce

• Swiss sneaker brand On has tapped Zendaya as a brand ambassador and designer to reach younger customers. [Read More]

• SHEIN is looking to sell its supply-chain tech that’s turned the ecommerce platform into a fast-fashion powerhouse. [Read More]

• Chanel designer Virginie Viard, who had the near-impossible job of succeeding Karl Lagerfeld, is leaving after 35 years at the fashion house. [Read More]

Tech, Web3, & AI

• US regulators are opening up a major, multi-agency antitrust investigation into OpenAI, Microsoft, and Nvidia, focused on their AI operations. [Read More]

• Speaking of Nvidia, it’s now surpassed Apple as the second-biggest company in the world, with a market cap of $3.01 trillion. [Read More]

• Humane is looking for a $1 billion buyout after the startup’s AI pin failed to take off with customers. [Read More]

Creator Economy

• Discord is rolling out new monetization features and lowering its platform fees to 15% to woo app developers. [Read More]

• DJs on Twitch will now have to split a portion of their earnings with music labels after the platform was threatened with takedown orders. [Read More]

• Wheelhouse DNA has signed 12 food-focused content creators to its new food-talent vertical at its Additive Creative Partners. [Read More]

.MUSIC.

The biggest musical acts face muted concert demand

The Future. Despite Live Nation reporting record revenues and ticket sales this year, some tours that you would expect to be hits have turned out to be flops… leading some tours to cancel before they even begin. With so much competition for fans’ attention, some big acts may choose to play in venues much smaller than they typically would to ensure that they can have the optics of a sold-out tour.

Concert crisis
Live music seems to have an over-saturation problem, according to Insider.

• Artists like Jennifer Lopez, The Black Keys, Troye Sivan & Charli XCX, and Wallows had to cancel tours or scale them way back due to soft ticket sales.

• Others like Cardi B, Justin Timberlake, and P!NK have also been dealing with underperforming tours, while major festivals like Coachella sold fewer tickets than expected.

So, what’s going on?

• Everybody’s on tour to make up for the lull during COVID, so competition is tough.

• Tickets are expensive, with the average ticket to see one of the top 100 acts costing $123.25 (and that’s to say nothing of how difficult it is to secure a ticket).

Those factors have led people to be extra discerning about what shows they choose to attend, opting to spend their money on one big cultural event (Taylor Swift, Beyoncé) or currently hot artists (Zach Bryan, Olivia Rodrigo) rather than spreading the wealth.

.A WORD FROM OUR FRIENDS AT DAILY TECH NEWS SHOW.

Tech news but not in a techy way

Meet the Daily Tech News Show (aka DTNS).

It’s a great 30-minute show that makes tech news easy to understand (finally).

Whatever’s going on that day, Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, and some regular contributors and guests break down the top tech headlines in a fun and informative way.

You can listen or watch as you fold your laundry from two weeks ago. Totally up to you.

• Watch: SpaceX’s Starship rocket — its flagship vehicle for an eventual mission to Mars — makes its first successful re-entry to Earth after a trip in orbit.

• Read: Wired interviews Eliot Higgins, the founder of Bellingcat — the largest open-source intelligence agency in the world.

• Listen: Bloomberg digs into how OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been taking control of Silicon Valley for more than a decade.

Forget the box office — the Fall Guy is officially a success.

LATEST PODCAST EPISODE

Today we get into the Sony CEO's comments on their use of AI technology, how Snoop Dogg is working on selling his collectibles, and how Dave and Buster's is betting on gambling. We also have an extra special guest with us today, the co-founder and CEO of Tastemade, Larry Fitzgibbon!