Sports & Entertainment Beat

Welcome back to the Spotlight! Much as I would love to take your attention away from the “T” word (no…not “torpedo bats”), I feel obliged to open this week with a discussion on the impact of the across-the-board US tariffs on the sports and entertainment industries. At first blush, you might assume that there would be a minimal impact on sporting events, films and television or live musical performances – none of which being commodities in the traditional sense. But step back and consider, for example,  fan merchandise. Regardless of whether your official tour t-shirt or your favorite team’s jersey is made in the US, the price is almost certainly going to be higher – either because the tariffs drive up the costs of imported goods, or because they provide an economic incentive for domestic manufacturers to increase their prices up to the amount of what the imported goods would be. The same is true of production equipment – much of which is already made elsewhere, if not assembled in the US from foreign components. Concessions prices? Yep.  Imported beer and domestic beer (both of which seem especially enticing after looking at your savings) is likely to experience the same price increases. Yes, dear reader. Like a depressing game of “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” – everything is interconnected.

• • Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions leads a $45 million funding round in creator-driven golf, media and lifestyle brand, Good Good Golf. Manning—who has rode a legendary professional on-field career to success in the years after he hung up his cleats—will not only be able to leverage Omaha Productions to produce new content for the brand, but he may also be able to see what ordinary people do when they retire.
     
  • Rapper Cardi B and Revolve Group announce a beauty and fashion joint venture, seeking to provide “Finesse” to “Girls Like You.”
     
  • Carolina Panthers Wide Receiver Xavier Legette lands an endorsement deal with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.  With Legette revealing last year that he eats racoon for Thanksgiving, I am encouraging my children to triple-check the label when Halloween comes around.

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