Sports & Entertainment Spotlight

Welcome back to the Spotlight! I write this week with a heavy heart, as I was not selected by a team in the NBA Draft for the 37th straight year. To the naysayers out there who would try to tear me down by pointing out that those who are drafted are generally taller and better than me at basketball, I say that I never completed the paperwork to be eligible for the NBA Draft. So there! Jokes aside, this happens to be the last Draft taking place before the July 1, 2025 date House settlement comes into effect, allowing colleges to directly pay their athletes a portion of revenue derived from the use of their athletes’ name, image and likeness. In the NIL era, athletes have already performed the calculus of determining whether it would be more lucrative to stay in school and get more experience under their belts rather than playing in the pros under a cut-rate rookie contract. That will only come into sharper focus with more money being available to college athletes and it will be interesting to see how the earning capacity for college athletes affects the talent pool for future professional drafts to come. Whatever the outcome, it is clear that college athletes are finally able to achieve financial independence much earlier in their careers. Speaking of independence, in observance of Independence Day for these United States, the Spotlight will be replaced by fireworks next week but will return the following week. Until then, hopefully this will tide you over.

• • Steve Burns, who played the role of…well…“Steve”  on the original Blue’s Clues children’s television show is debuting a grown-up podcast tailored to adults who grew up watching the show. I have to say, I’m intrigued, though mail time stopped making me wag my tail when bills started rolling in.

• • Kim Kardashian is rumored to be cast in a starring role in a film based on the popular “Bratz” dolls. The working title of the film? You guessed it: “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”

• • Following a debut at the X Games, AI-powered sports tech firm The Owl raises $10M as it looks to leverage artificial intelligence to displace human judges and officials in competitive sports. That all sounds very impressive, but I am still waiting for The Owl to give a credible answer as to how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.

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