Sports & Entertainment Beat

Welcome back to the Spotlight! Before jumping in this week, allow me to clear the decks and orient you: it’s cold as winter through many parts of the country, though allergy season is very clearly in full effect. TikTok is again living on borrowed time, channeling Fredo from “The Godfather” (just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!) having been given another few months to find a suitable purchaser for its US operations. The global retaliatory tariffs on foreign goods in the US have similarly been delayed on every country that isn’t China (and, as a result, negotiations with respect to TikTok are off). The graph line on my 401(k) needs an emesis bag. That’s where we are today -- or at least I think. To add to the uncertainty, the NCAA basketball tournaments have concluded (congratulations to the UConn Huskies on the women’s side and Florida Gators for the men’s side) and many of those players in this year’s tournament will vie to compete in next year’s tournament – albeit for different schools. Indeed, thousands of basketball players have entered the NCAA transfer portal (that for some reason opened in the middle of the aforementioned basketball tournaments), looking for greener pastures (emphasis on “green”) as they seek out more lucrative deals from brands and schools. The upshot?: Hard as it may be to plan in this volatile environment, adaptability, creativity and nasal decongestant will go a long way to ride out the choppy waters.

• • University of Southern California-bound Alijah Arenas, son of former NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas follows in his dad’s footsteps, signing a endorsement deal with Adidas. If Alijah’s career takes off, he may make footsteps of his own in a signature shoe.
     
  • In case you’re starting to sour on pickleball, another emerging racquet sport, padel is on the rise with the Professional Padel League raising $10 million for an expansion into the U.S. market. Approximately half of that will be spent to educate people on how padel is different from pickleball.
     
  • Visual artist Daniel Arsham sues rapper Quavo and his record label Quality Control Music for copyright infringement after one of Arsham’s works appeared in a promotional music video. It is as much a reminder to make sure your lawyer reviews works for rights and clearances, as much as it is a breath of fresh air to have a copyright lawsuit against a recording artist that doesn’t argue a song is sort-of, kind-of, reminiscent of another song.   

For inquiries and/or unabashed compliments, please feel free to contact me at josh.bloomgarden@foster.com or add me on LinkedIn.