Robots are no match for American football. The chorus of revolutionary promises about artificial intelligence might lead one to believe that no human activity is safe in an era of silicon smarts. But when it comes to live events – on traditional television, no less — AI can’t beat flesh-and-blood fervor. For the uninitiated, the National Football League broadcast of its championship game, dubbed the Super Bowl, is tantamount to a religious experience for many in the United States. On Sunday, millions gathered to watch the Philadelphia Eagles trounce the Kansas City Chiefs. The draw of the most-watched event

While national soccer teams compete on the field for the ultimate prize – the World Cup — Adidas and Nike are doing battle in retail stores with tournament merchandise. The Adidas logo appears on the game balls and much of the equipment used in the competition. Such global exposure looks like it is benefiting Adidas, since earnings are expected to see a 61.4% jump this quarter. Adidas is the main sponsor of the championship, but Nike is also dominating the soccer play field … so who will have the highest score? Who dominates in the U.S.? Although this is a

Peloton Interactive needed a chief executive switch. More than that, though, the $11 billion fitness firm needs to change its supervoting shares. Even with ex-Spotify executive Barry McCarthy drafted in as a new chief executive, co-founder John Foley’s voting power limits Peloton’s options. Why would he choose to give up that sway? Because it’s in the company’s interests, and his own. Peloton’s stock rocketed during the pandemic but is now almost back to where it was in March 2020 despite recent sale rumors. In the last six months, the company’s operations used $1 billion more cash than they generated. Revenue for its

Sporty buyout fund CVC Capital Partners is at it again. After failing to convince Italy’s Serie A of its plans for the soccer league’s commercial rights, the private equity group is taking its sales pitch to Spain. Its proposals to La Liga have a better chance of finding the back of the net. CVC’s forays into soccer build on its experiences with Formula One and rugby. Under the plan, which is yet to be approved by the clubs in La Liga’s general assembly, the firm will pay 2.7 billion euros for 10% of a new entity that will focus on

Back when Breakingviews first wrote about Vail Resorts five years ago, it was a $3 billion company with an uphill mission of effectively beating the weather by creating a diversified portfolio of premier ski resorts across the United States. With that mostly accomplished, the now-$9.3 billion enterprise led by Rob Katz is going downhill. Literally: Having gobbled up soaring peaks like Utah’s Park City and British Columbia’s Whistler Blackcomb, Vail Resorts is going low with its latest deal, a quarter-billion-dollar offer for Peak Resorts. Its quarry operates 17 facilities, including the 900-foot Paoli Peaks in Indiana. True, there are taller

World Cup sponsors Adidas and Nike are competing for retail gold.

Amazon has a surprisingly delicate touch for an $823 billion company. The U.S. e-commerce group made its first foray into UK soccer rights, but left local players Sky and BT with most of the games. That suggests Chief Executive Jeff Bezos cares as much about scoring tactical goals as tackling rivals head-on. Top clubs like Manchester United have been eagerly waiting for Amazon and other deep-pocketed tech groups to make a move on UK soccer rights. After a steep rise in the cost of rights at the last three-year auction in 2015, Sky and BT last year agreed to share

As the NBA playoffs continued, it's also the battle of the brands - Nike vs. Under Armour on the court.