Good Morning. One Virginia couple saved a year, then spent nearly $10,000 to watch the World Cup in person. We break down this summer’s funflation squeeze.
Plus, a robot chasing a falling telescope, your chatbot's political tilt, and one Dad’s $500K high school football team (forwarded this email? Join 523k readers).
TOP STORY TODAY
Summer Fun-flation
Live entertainment is busting household budgets this summer, a trend dubbed funflation. Fans are draining savings and taking on debt for the World Cup, NBA Finals, and concerts. One Virginia couple spent nearly $10,000 on the Cup.
Pandemic-era pent-up demand plus heavy spending by wealthy fans has bid up prices everywhere. World Cup resale tickets averaged about $1,084, and NBA Finals seats hit $4,100. Lenders like Affirm and Klarna help cover the tabs.
Cracks are showing. Fans now track "blue dot fever," the unsold face-value seats dotting venue maps, and some artists canceled soft-selling shows. Meanwhile, states won an antitrust verdict against Live Nation and want Ticketmaster broken up. Ticket prices vs your paycheck.
High School Moneyball
Wealthy entrepreneur Eric Obrokta poured millions into Orlando's The First Academy before the 2024 season, aiming to elevate his son's football team. More than 30 players transferred in, and the revamped Royals surged to a 9-1 record.
Annual football spending jumped from about $25,000 to over $500,000, funding a $230,000 coach and NFL-style gear. Transfers filled 18 of 22 starting spots, with a hybrid program and state vouchers cutting their tuition to roughly $3,000.
Anonymous recruiting complaints piled up, and the program collapsed amid cheating accusations. Meanwhile, Obrokta's son caught just 18 passes for 185 yards while two transfer receivers each topped 890. His son later moved to another school.
Alan Jackson’s Final Show
Country legend Alan Jackson closed his touring career Saturday with a farewell concert at Nashville's Nissan Stadium. The show, billed "Last Call: One More for the Road," capped a career that sold 60 million records.
The two-part night opened with stars like Carrie Underwood, Luke Combs, and Miranda Lambert covering his catalog. Then the 67-year-old ran through his own hits, with George Strait joining for two collaborations as fireworks lit the stadium.
Jackson is stepping back partly due to Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a degenerative nerve condition affecting his balance. A dollar from each ticket funded research. He isn't done making music, and the concert will air later as an NBC special. See him walk off the last time here.
TOGETHER WITH CASH APP
Help your kid build smart money habits early
If you have a kid between 6 and 12, you can start teaching them smart money habits right now with Cash App. Kids between 6 and 12 can now have a Cash balance, order a Cash App Card, and start saving, but they don’t get access to the app.* There are no subscription fees, and you control it all through your app and account.
A Cash App Card designed by them: They get their own debit card to design, made by them, with you alongside. They can spend their allowance or money from chores, but you can set spending limits.
3.25% interest on savings: Kids can earn 3.25% interest and start building strong saving habits early.**
Safe money transfers: You can choose up to 5 people who can send them money. They can't send money or buy stocks or bitcoin.
Parent-controlled account: They can't log in on their own, and they don't need a phone. You control their account and see their activity.
Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. Cash App Visa Debit Flex Cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, and The Bancorp Bank, N.A., pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. See terms and conditions for the Sutton prepaid card, Sutton debit flex card, and Bancorp debit flex card. Savings provided by Cash App, a Block Inc. brand.
*Parents and legal guardians can open a managed account for kids 6-12. To view the eligibility requirements for sponsoring a teen or child, please visit the Sponsored Accounts section of the Cash App Terms of Service.
**Cash App will pass through a portion of the interest paid on your savings balance held in an account for the benefit of Cash App customers at Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Member FDIC. To earn interest on your Cash App savings balance, you need to have sponsor approval. Exceptions may apply. Savings yield rate is subject to change.
GET 1% BETTER
100 best summer reads
We built a 100-book summer reading checklist this week, page-turners and modern classics in one place. Before you scroll the whole thing, here are some of our favs:
#16 The Martian, Andy Weir - A stranded astronaut science-hacks his way home from Mars. Funnier than a survival story has any right to be.
#20 The Road, Cormac McCarthy - A father and son cross a burned-out world. The most you will ever feel about a single can of food.
#30 Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders - Grieving Lincoln, his dead son, and a graveyard of restless ghosts. Get the audiobook on this one. A 166-person cast turns it into something closer to theater.
#50 A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Backman - A grumpy widower's life cracked open by his neighbors. You will laugh, then you will quietly not be okay.
#68 The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger - A restless teen loose in New York for one weekend. Still the sharpest voice in American fiction.
Is your chatbot politically motivated?
Recently, six leading chatbots were asked a handful of political questions and forced to give concise 30-word or less responses. Those responses were then ranked by Stanford and Dartmouth researchers. These were the results:
OpenAI (ChatGPT): 80% left | 17% mutual | 3% right
DeepSeek: 70% left | 23% mutual | 7% right
Gab: 50% left | 47% mutual | 3% right
Anthropic (Claude): 43% left | 57% mutual | 0% right
xAI (Grok): 40% left | 27% mutual | 33% right
Google (Gemini): 7% left | 93% mutual | 0% right
TRENDING
5 Stories
▲ Cloud seeding study claims AI nudges could've shifted Superstorm Sandy 300 miles; critics see no evidence
▲ NASA launches $30M robotic rescue to boost aging Swift telescope before October reentry; Hubble could be next
▲ SoftBank's Son doubts Musk's orbital data centers, noting electricity is just 7% of data-center costs
▲ China matches Anthropic's Mythos in finding security bugs as US restricts its own AI models
▲ Tesla rival Wayve lands Stellantis, Nissan deals to put AI driver in 2028 Jeeps
TOGETHER WITH HEAR
Americans over 55 are ditching hearing aids for this new device
People who try Horizon IX by HEAR tend to say the same thing after: I waited too long. Meet the nearly invisible innovation packed with two AI chips that separate speech from noise in real time. The result? Warm, natural sound anywhere life gets loud. No choosing between hearing the room and hearing the person.
Nearly invisible, rechargeable, smartphone-compatible, it's the device over 670K+ people switched too for unmatched clarity Experience the tech for yourself with a 45-day no-risk trial of the Horizon IX by HEAR.
Fun Links
Everything you need for parenthood [Partner*]
9 rules for a happier vacation [Video]
Happy 100th Birthday Mel Brooks [Blog]
Matt Damon crashes Jimmy Kimmel [Video]
10 shows with Mad Men vibes [List]
Luxury airline seats…for no one? [Blog]
Top 20 insane world cup moments [Video]
Grow your audience and revenue: Join brands like AG1, Hims, BetterHelp. Reach +500K ambitious professionals who open 1% Better every morning. Apply here.