In today’s issue we discuss The Weeknd is hosting a concert in Fortnite to kickoff the Fortnite Festival, the Fenway Sports Group is trying to invest in the PGA/LIV Golf deal before a December 31 deadline, the DJ duo known as The Chainsmokers are down with Generative-AI, Bradley Cooper was spotted slinging Philly Cheesesteaks out of a Food Truck in NYC, and Lionel Messi is bringing his Inter Miami FC to play at the Hong Kong Stadium in February 2024.

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Who Wants To Be A Billionaire Like Taylor Swift?

Business

There’s a new stalking horse in the race to invest in the PGA’s deal to merge with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund’s LIV Golf. Fenway Sports Group has pulled together a list of crazy impressive investors to make an offer that hopefully the PGA can’t refuse.

This investment group led by the Fenway Sports Group includes investors such as the Celtics majority stake owner Wyc Grousbeck, the Chicago Cubs’ Chairman Tom Ricketts and Cohen Private Ventures which is the venture capital firm of New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank, Liverpool Football Club owner John Henry, and the Boston Red Sox owner Tom Werner. I feel like we should also mention that LeBron James and his business partner Maverick Carter are also investors in the deal by way of their 1% stake in the Fenway Sports Group.

Not invited to the party was Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor Group Holdings, through his majority owned company TKO, which also owns the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) and is majority owner of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). They submitted a proposal to invest in the PGA, but were turned down last month.

The clock is ticking on any deal to invest in the PGA before the merger with LIV Golf goes through. The two have set a December 31st deadline to complete any investment deal before they move ahead with their merger.

It remains to be seen if any merged golf leagues would even be approved by regulatory bodies in the U.S, the UK, and elsewhere do anti-competitive and monopolistic factors of merging the two biggest golf leagues in the world. There is also hesitancy from some of golf’s biggest stars, including big-name PGA Tour players like Rory McIlroy who has been quoted saying “I still hate LIV” after the proposed PGA and LIV Golf merger was first announced during the Summer.

Fenway moves forward in final talks to invest in PGA Tour's Saudi deal

Tech

Following in the footsteps of Elon Musk’s baby-momma and EDM Queen Claire Elise Boucher who goes by the name Grimes, the DJ duo known as The Chainsmokers want to use AI to recreate their own voices in multiple new versions to use in their music. They’re not the first to venture into the brave new world of AI (you like that Aldous Huxley reference?). In addition to Grimes, musicians including John Legend, Sia and Demi Lovato have all lent their voices to be used by AI to create new music.

Some view Generative AI as challenging the very idea of creativity, while others see it as a mechanism for innovation. Where some people see AI and robots one day taking away their jobs, others see them as freeing us from the mundane and elevating our consciousness to a new level, including me.

Drew Taggart and Alex Pall, the duo behind The Chainsmokers, have embraced AI, saying “As an artist, I want every possible tool to make my art better. The only answer is to embrace [AI] and figure out a way to harness it.”

Now, they’re putting their money where their mouth is. The Chainsmokers have started their own VC firm called Mantis VC, and have raised nearly $1 billion dollars in assets that they have invested in startups including those in the AI space.

AI-generated music is crushing it on social media. Last Summer an AI-generated song, made using the voices of Drake and The Weeknd, called “Heart on My Sleeve” tore it up online, before it was revealed to be a fan-generated song and not an original sung by Drake and The Weeknd.

And recently an Ariana Grande AI-generated cover song of the Korean singer Kim Jong-dae’s song “Everytime” received over 7.6 million views on TikTo, and was the top-liked search result on the social media platform.

Then we get into the topic of copyrights, which allow artists to protect their creative works and grant them exclusive rights. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act allows a rights-holder to request for a violation to be removed from an online platform such as YouTube or TikTok. The Chainsmokers have said that they aren’t opposed to hearing AI-generated music in their style, but they do want to make sure that their own IP is protected. In an interview Alex Pall said “It would be cool if someone could make Chainsmokers music and couldn’t upload it without the permission of us. Now we have the option to reach out to the person, collaborate with them on the idea, or say ‘this is fine, release it.’ But there’s a framework set up so we’re all doing this fairly and legally at the end of the day.”

My take on AI-generated anything is that it should be used as a tool for research and possibly inspiration in the form of a muse, but when it gets to the point of a kid in their bedroom madly typing into a ChatGPT AI-generators that spits out music that sounds like a famous artist, or produces a story in the same style as a famous writer, then they take credit for it as their own that’s when I have an issue with the result of generative AI, but not with the technology itself.

DJ duo The Chainsmokers want to use AI to clone their own voices

Entertainment

I’m super pumped for this live event in Fortnight this weekend. My son and I are big fans of Fortnite, and have tuned it to watch every concert they put on in the game, including Eminem who performed a few weeks ago.

Now there’s news that this weekend The Weeknd will be heading up the very first ‘Fortnite Festival’ featuring songs from various artists including Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Kendrick Lamar.

For anyone out there who's been living under a rock, Fortnite is a free-to-play, cross-platform online multiplayer game that rolls out new seasons with updated maps, game play, and skins every few months.

Fortnite has previously hosted concerts by Marshmello, Travis Scott, and Ariana Grande, and most recently Eminem. The Weeknd will be the fifth artist to perform on Fortnite, and he’s bringing a ton of virtual swag for his fans including skins, pickaxes and emotes for the kickoff of Season 1 of the Fortnite Festival. In addition, The Weeknd himself is releasing branded collaboration merchandise like shirts, hats and a Fortnite action figure of the singer. You know you’ve reached baller status when you come out with your own action figure!

The Fortnite Festival kicks off this Saturday, and players can tune in for the chance to play guitar or sing vocals as The Weeknd himself. You know I’ll be there!

The Weeknd to headline first of its kind ‘Fortnite Festival’ launch

Food

Is there anything that Bradley Cooper can’t do? Fresh off his wildly successful run performing the voice of Rocket in the hit Marvel movie franchise Guardians of the Galaxy, Bradley Cooper is now working in a food truck.

No, he’s not broke and working random jobs to make money for an expensive coke habit. Bradley Cooper was seen slinging some Philly cheesesteaks from a food truck called Danny & Coop’s Cheesesteaks in the West Village. Apparently Bradley knows the chefs behind the food truck, Danny DiGiampietro and Seth Braunstein, from Angelo’s Pizzeria of South Philadelphia where Bradly is from.

Bradley Cooper served a number of famous faces in line including Laura Dern and Gigi Hadid, as well as the rest of the unwashed masses in NYC who showed up for the event that hosted a sign saying “100% of the proceeds from today will be donated to help feed New Yorkers in need.”

It turns out this could be good practice for a second job for Bradley Cooper if that whole acting thing doesn’t work out. He’s expected to open a cheesesteak shop in New York with Danny DiGiampietro, where I imagine he’ll be yelling “Get’em while they’re hot” in the voice of Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Yes, that’s Bradley Cooper working a food truck in New York

Sports

Fans of Lionel Messi are in for a treat this February 2024 when the Inter Miami FC team bring their game to Hong Kong on their first international tour.

David Beckham is bringing his Inter Miami FC to play at the Hong Kong Stadium in a highly anticipated match that has been scheduled for Feb. 4. Inter Miami FC is looking to cultivate an international audience, and much of the tickets to their open training sessions have been reserved for community outreach.

It seems the MLS team is taking a page from the NBA’s international outreach to cultivates fans worldwide, with great success.

Lionel Messi was last in Hong Kong in 2014 when the Argentinian team played against the Hong Kong’s national team, with Lionel Messi’s team won 7-0.

The event is expected to draw an estimated 80,000 people, of which “50% of the people will be from Hong Kong, 30% from mainland China and the remaining from the rest of Asia.” And tickets won’t be cheap even by American standards, with prices ranging from between $112 to $624, and will go on sale on December 15.

I wonder how many of Lionel Messi’s Pink jerseys they’ll sell at the event?

Hong Kong's soccer fans will get to see Lionel Messi in action in February

So much news, so little time. Until tomorrow we’re signing out.

— Chris