Sports & Entertainment Beat

Welcome back to the Spotlight! This may (or may not) be the last weekend that TikTok is operational in the United States, with legislation due to come into effect on January 19, 2025 that would ban TikTok failing Chinese parent company ByteDance’s divestment of the short form content-laden social media platform. That may (or may not) be welcome news depending on whether you’re a content creator, a national security hawk, a Chinese intelligence officer or someone with “mad skibidi rizz” who just spent the last few weeks choreographing the next big dance trend (none of these necessarily being mutually exclusive, by the way). There may (or may not) be efforts afoot for a last-ditch purchase of the platform and the incoming Trump administration may (or may not) have an Executive Order at the ready to suspend the enforcement of the legislation (something that may (or may not) be legally possible) when President Trump is sworn into office the next day on January 20, 2025. The point is, the only thing that is certain is that nothing is certain.  For brands and influencers/endorsement partners in active agreements that call for posts on TikTok, conventional wisdom dictates a wait-and-see approach as we watch the clock (tick-tock, TikTok).  

Welcome back to the Spotlight! This may (or may not) be the last weekend that TikTok is operational in the United States, with legislation due to come into effect on January 19, 2025 that would ban TikTok failing Chinese parent company ByteDance’s divestment of the short form content-laden social media platform. That may (or may not) be welcome news depending on whether you’re a content creator, a national security hawk, a Chinese intelligence officer or someone with “mad skibidi rizz” who just spent the last few weeks choreographing the next big dance trend (none of these necessarily being mutually exclusive, by the way). There may (or may not) be efforts afoot for a last-ditch purchase of the platform and the incoming Trump administration may (or may not) have an Executive Order at the ready to suspend the enforcement of the legislation (something that may (or may not) be legally possible) when President Trump is sworn into office the next day on January 20, 2025. The point is, the only thing that is certain is that nothing is certain.  For brands and influencers/endorsement partners in active agreements that call for posts on TikTok, conventional wisdom dictates a wait-and-see approach as we watch the clock (tick-tock, TikTok).  

• • Basketballer brothers LaMelo, Lonzo and LiAngelo Ball seem to have made good on their father Lavar’s aspirations for them, with LaMelo and Lonzo enjoying $203 million and $85 million NBA contracts, respectively, and LiAngelo (G3 Gelo) scoring off the court with a $13 million record deal from Def Jam.  Of course that’s nothing compared to Power Ball, whose current jackpot is $330 million.
     
  • In hopes of moving product off the shelf by aligning with the fastest growing high school sport, Cosmetics brand e.l.f. becomes the first beauty sponsor of the largest high school girls wrestling competition (Wonder Women of Wrestling Tournament). If successful, this will mark the first ever wrestling victory by an elf.  
     
  • University of Georgia quarterback Carson Beck is forgoing the NFL Draft for one more year and transferring to the University of Miami for the cool sum of $4.4 million – positioning him to make more NIL money in college than a handful of starting NFL quarterbacks. But more importantly, he also gets an on-campus meal plan and an opportunity to enroll in that Art History seminar he’s been hearing so much about.