Good morning. Looking for a man in finance? He probably won’t be at a power lunch. According to recent data from payment platform Square, weekday transaction volumes at bars and restaurants from 11 am–2 pm were down 3.3% last year compared with 2019.

A better bet would be happy hour – or the weekend. Card taps/swipes/inserts increased 0.3% during weekday happy hours (4 pm–6 pm) last year compared with 2019, with a more-pronounced 4.2% increase on the weekends.

Some other things you’ll know after reading today’s email:

• ⚖️ How a landmark legal settlement signals a new era in college sports
• 🍿 Why the US box office is struggling
• ⛹️‍♀️ The number of new women’s pro sports teams making their debut this year

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.69-minute read (1,250 words).

P.S. First time reading? Subscribe here for free.

“Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.”

–Samuel Butler (1835-1902)

Last week, the NCAA and America’s five largest athletic conferences (the Power Five) agreed to a $2.8 billion settlement that would reverse the amateur model that’s governed college sports since 1906. Translation: college athletes are one step closer to getting that bag – directly from their respective schools.

The settlement, which would resolve three ongoing antitrust cases from current and former athletes, has two parts:

1. It would distribute $2.8 billion in back-payments to ~14,000 student-athletes who have competed at Power Five schools since 2016.
2. It would create a future revenue-sharing model in which schools pay student-athletes a cut of the money received from sponsorships, broadcasting rights, and ticket sales.

Under the future model, D1 schools could distribute up to 22% of the average athletic department’s revenue – starting at ~$20 million/year – to their athletes, with full discretion over how those funds are distributed.

• The deal wouldn’t affect existing laws allowing athletes to profit from their own name, image, and likeness (NIL).
• However, it would eliminate scholarship limits and allow full rides for all players on a roster.

The Title IX question

The deal doesn’t explicitly address Title IX, a federal law that requires schools to provide equal opportunities for athletes regardless of their gender. But the law still applies, leaving universities in a seemingly lose-lose position:

• On one hand, an unequal revenue split between men’s and women’s sports would risk a Title IX lawsuit.
• On the other hand, an equal split of revenue by gender would risk a lawsuit from men’s football/basketball players, who could argue they’re receiving a disproportionate amount of the revenue they generate.

👀 Looking ahead… The landmark settlement now heads to a federal judge for approval, which is expected to take several months. If ratified, revenue-sharing payments to athletes would likely begin in Fall 2025.

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🇮🇹 A deceased Italian teen is one step closer to becoming the first Catholic millennial saint. Carlo Acutis, aka “God’s Influencer,” is known for launching a website seeking to document miracles before he passed away from leukemia in 2006 at age 15. Last week, Acutis was recognized by Pope Francis for the second of two miracles necessary for sainthood, both of which involve sick people becoming healed after praying for Acutis’ help. The decision kicks off a process that could see Acutis canonized by late 2025.

🇨🇳 China is investing a record $47.5 billion in its domestic semiconductor industry. It marks the third major investment in a Chinese government fund, established a decade ago, which aims to boost the country’s domestic chip manufacturing, design, equipment, and materials. China currently ranks fifth in global chip production with a ~15% market share – though it’s projected to add more production capacity this year than the rest of the world combined.

💥 Israel-Hamas war: Palestinian officials say an Israeli airstrike on a camp near the Gazan city of Rafah late Sunday killed at least 45 people (mostly civilians) after a fire broke out. Israel’s military initially said it killed two senior militants in a precise airstrike on a Hamas compound – but after reports of the casualties emerged, PM Benjamin Netanyahu described the incident as a “tragic mistake” and said Israel is investigating the reported civilian deaths.

The US box office may need to call Life Alert – because it’s fallen and needs help getting up. Over the four-day Memorial Weekend, movies shown in theaters generated an estimated $128 million in sales, a 29-year low (excluding 2020 when theaters were closed) and down ~37% from last year.

• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga led the US box office with ~$32 million, while the lasagna-powered Garfield Movie came in second with ~$31 million.

Last year’s Hollywood strikes are having a lasting impact. Production schedules were pushed back as a result of the labor disputes, causing studios to delay the release of so-called “tentpole” movies.

• Case in point: Marvel Studios usually premieres a superhero tentpole in the first weekend of May – this year it was supposed to be Deadpool & Wolverine – but ended up pushing the film’s release back nearly three months.

No tentpole movies = lower box office numbers. So far this year, no movie has come close to hitting a $100 million domestic opening – while by this time in 2023, three had already accomplished the feat.

👀 Looking ahead… Industry analysts estimate the total US box office this summer to come in at slightly over $3 billion, compared to last summer’s $4.1 billion (driven in large part by Barbenheimer). But this summer does offer some potential hits to right the box-office ship – including Despicable Me 4 (July 5), Twisters (July 19), Inside Out 2 (June 14) and Deadpool & Wolverine (July 26).

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💬 Quoted: “For example, Neil Armstrong said, ‘One small step for man’ because it was a cat’s step. Buzz Aldrin also deployed cats on the Apollo 11 mission.”

• Earlier this month, Google rolled out a new AI Overview feature that shows chatbot-generated summaries at the top of some searches – and early results have been… somewhat hit or miss. While Google says the vast majority of AI Overview queries result in “high-quality information,” many users are reporting false or nonsensical AI responses that typically cite satirical websites like The Onion or Reddit joke-posts as sources. Examples include: a tip to use Elmer’s glue to make cheese stick to pizza, referring to running with scissors as a “cardio exercise,” saying that scientists recommend eating at least one small rock per day, and… whatever it was trying to say in the quote above.

⛹️‍♀️ Stat of the Day: Women’s sports are like a golfer after hitting the ball – on the upswing. At least 20 new pro women’s sports teams will play their inaugural season this year, from expansion teams like Bay FC (National Women's Soccer League) to a bunch of brand-new teams in the USL Super League. Fun fact: Research from PricewaterhouseCoopers indicates women’s sports fans actually boast a higher engagement rate than men’s sports fans. If a person follows a female athlete, they’re 3x more likely to attend a women’s sports game – and once they make it to the stadium, they’re 3x more likely to purchase apparel.

🤔 Did You Know? Until the mid-1950s, French children were able to buy wine, beer, and alcoholic cider from school cafeterias.

📰 Worth a Read: How the FBI built its own smartphone company to hack the criminal underworld → (The Verge)

• ☝️ Americans across the country held Memorial Day services and celebrations in honor of fallen US service members; the Memorial Day weekend also set a new daily air travel record in the US, with the TSA screening 2.95 million passengers on Friday.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with The Assist

• 💰 US markets rose across the board on Friday (S&P: +0.7%; Dow: +0.01%; Nasdaq: +1.1%); the Nasdaq closed at a record high for the 11th time this year.
• 🤖 Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, raised $6 billion at a $24 billion post-money valuation.
• 🍔 Burger King is launching a new $5 meal deal that will run “for several months,” following a similar move from McDonald’s. (Fast food vs. fast casual: a battle is brewing)

*From our partners: 💼🚀 Your shortcut to success… Join 76,000+ professional women for the Assist – a 4x weekly newsletter packed with the resources and info that will help your professional life. Subscribe free to The Assist.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀 NBA Playoffs: The Boston Celtics clinched a spot in the NBA Finals last night after sweeping the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, while the Dallas Mavericks are a game away from sweeping the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals.
• 🎾 Rafael Nadal lost to Alexander Zverev in the first round of the French Open; it likely marks Nadal’s last appearance at the tournament, which he’s won a record 14 times.
• 🙏 Bill Walton, the Hall of Fame college/pro basketball player and commentator, passed away yesterday at the age of 71 following a battle with cancer. | 🙏 Morgan Spurlock, who directed and starred in the Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me, died at the age of 53. | 🙏 PGA golfer Grayson Murray, 30, died by suicide after withdrawing from a tournament on Friday, per a statement from his family.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Slumber

• 💉 Semaglutide, the active ingredient in diabetes/weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, significantly reduces the risk of kidney failure and death in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease, per new clinical trial results.
• 🪐 A potentially habitable Earth-sized planet was discovered in a system 40 light-years away, boasting a surface temperature of ~107°F, per a new study.
• ✈️☢️ Rolls-Royce was awarded a contract to build the next generation of the US Air Force’s nuclear-blast-resistant aircraft, dubbed the “doomsday planes.”

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🌪️ At least 21 people were killed after tornadoes and storms swept across Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kentucky over the weekend. (Read more)
• 🗳️ The Libertarian Party selected party activist Chase Oliver as its 2024 presidential nominee; independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was eliminated in the first of seven voting rounds. (Read more)
• 💊 Louisiana enacted a new law making it the first state to classify the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled and dangerous substances. (Read more)

CLICKBAIT

• 🎓💰 The colleges where you’re most likely to have a positive return on your investment.

On Friday, we covered how, according to much of the official data used by economists, the US is in a pretty good spot – but many Americans have a more pessimistic view of the current situation.

❓ Our question to you: Which of the following economic indicators do you consider as the most important when evaluating the US economy? (Choose all that apply)

• Inflation/Cost of living: 64% of respondents
• National debt: 41%
• Interest rates: 33%
• Wages: 30%
• GDP: 24%
• Stock market: 21%
• Unemployment: 17%
• All of the above: 35%
• Other: 12%

+Note on sample size: We received 3,702 votes and 349 longform responses.

+Editor’s note: There aren’t any written responses today; we heard your feedback on the confusing poll format. Future surveys in this style will be adjusted to make the process smoother.

In 1991, 20-something-year-old Nick Chowdhury was fishing with some friends in their British Columbia town when he lost his wallet in the water. 

• “Everything I had was in there: my birth certificate, my status card, my SIN (social insurance) card, my care cards… everything,” Nick said of the incident. It was a frustrating process getting all of his IDs replaced, but he eventually did so – and bought an identical wallet to replace his lost one. 

📅 What goes around... 14-year-old Jamie Lee recently discovered the old wallet lodge between boulders on the water, very close to where Nick had originally lost it. 

• After finding Nick on Facebook, Jamie was able to return the wallet to its rightful owner, with almost everything still intact after 33 years. 

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words:

1. Aesthet
2. Batho
3. Calli
4. Dynam
5. Ferr

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1. Aesthet = Sensation (e.g., aesthetics, anaesthetic)
2. Batho = Depth (bathophobia)
3. Calli = Beautiful (calligraphy)
4. Dynam = Power (dynamite)
5. Ferr = Iron (ferrous)