Concrete Jungle vs. La La Land—We’re Ready

Australian Jordan Rulach is the latest young basketball player to capture the world’s attention. He’s only 12, but already dishes the ball out like Chris Paul in his prime. How long ‘til he has an NIL deal?

Las Vegas is changing—and fast. While the Sphere (sorry, just “Sphere”) gets some credit, it’s the city’s sports boom that is really leading the charge, from F1 cars racing down The Strip to the Raiders, Aces, and now Athletics all moving in, Sin City has a lot more to it than sin nowadays.

Take a look inside the extremely lux, extremely guarded neighborhood of La Finca in Madrid, where the biggest soccer stars in Spain buy their homes. When Mbappé is buying a spot previously owned by Gareth Bale, you know the town is bustling.

UFC champ Alex Pereira is hitting the big screen, set to play the villain in A24’s upcoming thriller “Onslaught.” It’s hard to imagine Pereira figuring out a way to be even scarier than he is in the Octagon, but we’re sure A24 will figure it out.

Designer Grace Wales Bonner—whose collaboration helped transform the Adidas Samba into the hottest sneaker around—has teamed up with the Three Stripes again to deliver a line of beautiful track suits and sneakers. Comfy never looked so good.

What do you think the Bayou Barbie has cooking?

When Inter Miami hosts Atlanta United tonight in the first round of the MLS playoffs, Leo Messi will be hard to miss. The GOAT will have a dedicated camera following his every move, available for fans to watch on TikTok. If you think that’s a lot of attention to pay to one soccer player, you are probably new to the Messi business.

His empire knows no bounds. A landmark Adidas endorsement? He has one, and Bad Bunny is on board with the project too. His own cologne? Who wouldn’t want to smell like the smoothest player on the planet? The man even has his own superhero toy—Captain Messi. If he gets an animated origin story à la “Lightyear” in the next few months, no one would be surprised.

What makes Messi’s big business even more impressive is the fact that he does not really have to sell himself. Early in his career, he was never the type of player to show up in every other commercial break, like your Kelces, Currys, and LeBrons are in America. But without needing to market himself as a brand, he became one nevertheless thanks to the dominance of his beautiful play.

@mls

Messi’s kids are inspiration behind #Marvel goal celebrations 🕷️🏹 #messi #mls #soccer #spiderman #thor #ironman #blackpanther #hawkeye

But from the moment Messi made the move to Miami, the all-out media blitz was a part of the plan. His jersey immediately became one of the top sellers across all sports. His unique contract signed in 2023 gave him not only an equity stake in the club, but also a slice of new MLS Season Pass subscribers, a service owned by Apple TV+. When Apple invests that much in a superstar, you can bet they’re going to market them to the moon and back.

One year in, MLS’s bet on Messi is a winner. The league scored record attendance and growth in 2024, including hosting two matches that brought out more than 70,000 fans, with Messi as their main draw. He’s also boosted Inter Miami’s franchise value to more than $1 billion, putting it at 17th in the world and ahead of many teams across Europes top tiers. Not bad for a club that played its first official league match in 2020.

With Inter Miami set to represent the United States in the FIFA Club World Cup next year, Messi’s profile in America (already enormous) is going to get bigger. Maybe Apple can get his silhouette juggling a ball with airpods in.

Which team do you think has the best look this year?

Tonight the Yankees and Dodgers will face off in Game 1 of the biggest World Series in recent memory. The two most historic teams in the majors, led by the two biggest stars in the game, both of them chasing their first title. This is what we’ve been waiting for all year.

@newheightshow

“I think this is the World Series that everybody’s kinda been begging for for the last 10 years” Ill give you one guess for who CC has wi... See more

It renews one of sport’s greatest rivalries—while they’ve met in the World Series 11 times, we haven’t seen it since 1981.

It’s exactly the World Series baseball needed Shohei Ohtani vs. Aaron Judge is a box office PPV fight that could sell Tyson numbers. Even better, they’re not the only stars in the show. With Mookie Betts and Juan Soto, four of the top seven selling jerseys in the majors this year will be playing on the biggest stage.

Simply put, the Yankees and Dodgers are baseball. These are the only two teams in MLB without mascots. They don’t need them. Each of their logos is a cultural icon all its own. While Mr. Met and the Phillie Phanatic represent their teams well, there’s a simplicity in two interlocking letters connecting an entire city.

@nyliberty

WNBA CHAMPION SABRINA IONESCU #nyliberty #WNBA #sabrinaionescu