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What is a sovereign wealth fund? Both Trump and Biden want one.


Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are piqued by the idea of a sovereign wealth fund for the United States. It’s a strategy largely employed by oil-rich nations and may seem more out of place for a country with more than $35 trillion in national debt, a trade deficit and Social Security deficits

“This wealth fund will return a gigantic profit, which will help pay down national debt,” Trump said. “We’re going to work on national debt very strongly, by the way. We’re going to have so much money coming in. We’re going to work on national debt.”

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Trump first proposed the idea Thursday, Sept. 5, during an economic policy speech in New York. The next day, Bloomberg reported that top aides to Biden have been crafting a similar proposal. 

“We will be so successful, we’ll create America’s own sovereign wealth fund to invest in great national endeavors for the benefit of all of the American people. Why don’t we have a wealth fund? Other countries have wealth funds. We have nothing,” Trump said.

Trump admitted the concept might need a name change.

“Perhaps ‘sovereign wealth fund’ wouldn’t be appropriate, but it’s going to be the same thing,” he said.

What is a sovereign wealth fund?

Sovereign wealth funds are investment funds owned and controlled by governments. These funds manage more than $12 trillion in assets worldwide, and the vast majority comes from oil-rich nations.

Countries like Saudi Arabia use surpluses from oil revenues to fund projects that play to a national strategy. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund manages nearly a trillion dollars in assets. A big part of their “Saudi Vision 2030” plan is investing in sports to play on a global stage.

“They won’t cop to sports washing, but they will admit that sports is of great appeal. It’s really where they want to park a lot of this discretionary Saudi sovereign wealth fund money,” Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim explained, calling sports investments a “pillar of their economy.”

But Saudi Arabia has money to play. The country’s sovereign wealth fund is worth more than three times what it owes in national debt.

Not every country that has a sovereign wealth fund is in the black. Perhaps these are best called “sovereign leveraged funds,” as Zongyuan Zoe Liu coined in her book, “Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances its Global Ambitions.”

Where does the U.S. want to invest?

What do Trump and Biden have in mind for America’s global ambitions? Trump offered some thoughts during his speech last week.

“We will build extraordinary national development projects and everything from highways to airports to transportation infrastructure, all of the future,” Trump said. “We’ll be able to invest in state-of-the-art manufacturing hubs, advanced defense capabilities, cutting-edge medical research, and help save billions of dollars in preventing disease in the first place.”

As far as the White House plan is concerned, Bloomberg reports, “Proponents of the idea believe the fund could be tapped to support emerging technologies where there are high barriers of entry — including shipbuilding, emerging geothermal and nuclear fusion projects, and quantum cryptography.”

These proposed investments do not sound much different from what the U.S. already does; infrastructure investments, the CHIPS Act, solar subsidies and more come to mind. 

Of course, there’s the question of how this fund will be funded. Trump said his tariffs will pay for it, though tariffs are also supposed to pay for his proposed tax cuts. It isn’t clear where funds would come from with the White House plan. 

While the idea of a U.S. sovereign wealth fund is new, state funds are not. The Alaska Permanent Fund is the largest, managing $78 billion. It takes state proceeds from oil sales and invests in income-producing financial assets. 

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Simone Del Rosario

It’s a page straight out of Saudi Arabia’s playbook. 

Both President Biden and former President Trump are piqued by the idea of a sovereign wealth fund for the United States. 

It may seem like an odd proposition for a country with more than $35 trillion in national debt, a trade deficit, and Social Security deficits. 

Donald Trump: This wealth fund will return a gigantic profit, which will help pay down national debt. We’re going to work on national debt very strongly, by the way. We’re going to have so much money coming in. We’re going to work on national debt.

Simone Del Rosario: Trump first proposed the idea last Thursday during an economic policy speech in New York. The next day, Bloomberg reported that top aides to Biden have been crafting a similar proposal. 

Donald Trump: We will be so successful, we’ll create America’s own sovereign wealth fund to invest in great national endeavors for the benefit of all of the American people. Why don’t we have a wealth fund? Other countries have wealth funds. We have nothing. We have nothing. 

Simone Del Rosario: Sovereign wealth funds are investment funds owned and controlled by governments. These funds manage more than $12 trillion in assets worldwide, and the vast majority comes from oil-rich nations. Countries like Saudi Arabia use surpluses from oil revenues to fund projects that play to a national strategy. Saudi’s Public Investment Fund manages nearly a trillion dollars in assets. And a big part of their “Saudi Vision 2030” plan is investing in sports to play on a global stage.

Jon Wertheim: They won’t cop to sports washing, but they will admit that sports is of great appeal. It’s really where they want to park a lot of this discretionary Saudi sovereign wealth fund money. It’s part of this Vision 2030. They own an EPL team. They’ve owned, I mean, the WWE and the soccer and the golf, and becoming this real kind of this pillar of their economy. 

Simone Del Rosario: But Saudi Arabia has money to play. Its sovereign wealth fund is worth more than three times what it owes in national debt.

Not every country that has a sovereign wealth fund is in the black. Perhaps these are best called “sovereign leveraged funds,” as Zongyuan Zoe Liu coined in her book, Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China finances its global ambitions.

So what do Trump and Biden have in mind for America’s global ambitions? Trump offered some thoughts during his speech last week.

Donald Trump: We will build extraordinary national development projects and everything from highways to airports and to transportation infrastructure, all of the future we’ll be able to invest in state-of-the-art manufacturing hubs, advanced defense capabilities, cutting-edge medical research, and help save billions of dollars in preventing disease in the first place.

Simone Del Rosario: While Bloomberg reports that proponents believe the fund could be used to support emerging technologies where there are high barriers of entry, like shipbuilding, geothermal and nuclear fusion projects, and more. 

These proposed investments do not sound much different from what the U.S. already does; think about the infrastructure bill, the CHIPS Act, solar subsidies and more. 

And of course, there’s the question of how this fund will be funded. Trump says his tariffs will pay for it, though tariffs are also supposed to offset his tax cuts. It isn’t clear where funds would come from with the White House plan. 

While the idea of a U.S. sovereign wealth fund is new, state funds are not. The Alaska Permanent Fund is the largest and best known, managing $78 billion. It takes state proceeds from oil sales and invests in income-producing financial assets. 

To learn more about other economic policies proposed by former President Trump, search “Trump admin” for this story at SAN.com or the Straight Arrow News app. 

Business

Is Powell’s ‘soft landing’ slipping away? Job worries cloud Jackson Hole speech


Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is known for its temperate summers, but Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is probably feeling the heat turn up a bit ahead of his most-anticipated speech of the year. Powell will speak Friday, Aug. 23, at the Kansas City Fed’s annual economic symposium at Grand Teton National Park. 

Central bankers, policymakers and investors around the world will be glued in for Powell to signal he thinks inflation has come down enough for a rate cut next month.

The elusive soft landing is on the line, especially in light of news the labor market is taking a turn. 

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“This is his opportunity to send us a clear message on some aspect of what the Fed is thinking about,” Kathleen Hays, editor-in-chief of Central Bank Central, said. “I don’t think it’s going to be just looking at the economy and inflation. He’ll probably put this in a bigger context. At the same time, I think people are going to be waiting for him to just give us a little more guidance on where you’re leaning now.”

On Wednesday, the Fed released minutes from the latest Open Market Committee meeting in July. It decided to keep rates the same two days before a disappointing jobs report rocked people’s views of the labor market. 

According to the minutes, the vast majority of people in that meeting expressed that it would likely be appropriate to cut rates in September. That said, several made comments that they could have also gotten behind a cut in July, which didn’t happen.

But here’s the kicker: Many participants noted that reported payroll gains might be overstated, and some noted the easing labor market faced a higher risk of more serious deterioration. 

The July jobs report showed the unemployment rate spiked up to 4.3% from 4.1%, roiling stock markets around the world. A recession indicator called the Sahm Rule triggered. Some people called for the Fed to step in and make an emergency rate cut, an idea that others smacked down as ridiculous

Now, it is confirmed that payroll gains have been overstated, just as many of those Fed members suspected. 

“Since January of 2023, we’ve seen one downward revision after another to the data — it’s become systematic,” QI Research CEO Danielle DiMartino Booth told Straight Arrow News in August.

The latest Labor Department revision shows the U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs than previously reported over 12 months ending March 2024. That’s about a 30% hit to what the Bureau of Labor Statistics initially released. It doesn’t mean those jobs were lost, it means they were never there in the first place. Therefore, while the labor market was still strong over those 12 months, it wasn’t on quite the tear the initial data indicated. These estimates will not be finalized until February 2025. 

“And it takes a lot of time for the Bureau of Labor Statistics data to work its way into subsequent revisions for the Bureau of Economic Analysis data for GDP,” DiMartino Booth noted of revisions.

All of these moving parts are putting the Fed’s soft landing scenario at risk. A soft landing is being able to come down from too-high inflation without triggering a recession. 

Inflation has come down quite a bit. The Fed’s preferred inflation measurement (core PCE) is at 2.6%, close to its 2% target. And the softening labor market is all the more reason to act.

In Powell’s speech Friday listeners will hope to hear from him that a soft landing is still in sight.

“We know the Fed’s going to be cutting rates,” Hays said. “We know they’re going to normalize. So it’s more of a question of when and how much and how fast.”

Complicating matters is the upcoming election. The Federal Reserve is a politically independent body and it would never want to be seen as carrying water for one party or another. 

There is only one meeting before the election, on Sept. 17-18. Taking politics out of it, most economic signs point to the need to cut rates in September. But that will likely give the economy a boost, and that’s why in an interview with Bloomberg, Donald Trump said cutting before the election is “something that they know they shouldn’t be doing.”

The next Fed meeting starts the day after Election Day, but the Fed may not wait that long with the labor market showing these cracks. 

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Simone Del Rosario: Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is known for its temperate summers, but Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is probably feeling the heat turn up a bit ahead of his most-anticipated speech of the year. 

Powell will speak Friday at the Kansas City Fed’s annual economic symposium at Grand Teton National Park. 

Central bankers, policymakers, and investors around the world will be glued in for Powell to signal he thinks inflation has come down enough for a rate cut next month.

The elusive soft landing is on the line, especially in light of news the labor market is taking a turn. 

Kathleen Hays: This is his opportunity to send us a clear message on some aspect of what the Fed is thinking about. He doesn’t have to do that. I don’t think it’s going to be just looking at the economy and inflation. He’ll probably put this in a bigger context. At the same time I think people are going to be waiting for him to just give us a little more guidance on where you’re leaning now.

Simone Del Rosario: On Wednesday, we did get the minutes from the Fed’s last meeting in July, where the Fed decided to keep rates the same two days before a disappointing jobs report rocked people’s views of the labor market. 

The vast majority of people in that meeting expressed that it would likely be appropriate to cut rates in September. That said, several made comments that they could have also gotten behind a cut in July, which didn’t happen.

And here’s the kicker: Many participants noted that reported payroll gains might be overstated, and some noted the easing labor market faced a higher risk of more serious deterioration. 

And here’s what happened after that meeting: Two days later, the latest jobs report showed the unemployment rate spiked up to 4.3% from 4.1%. Stock markets around the world had a bit of a field day with that one. A recession indicator called the Sahm Rule triggered. Some people called for the Fed to step in and make an emergency rate cut, an idea that others smacked down as ridiculous. 

And then, this week, we got confirmation that payroll gains have been drastically overstated, just as many of those Fed members suspected. 

Danielle DiMartino Booth: Since January of 2023, we’ve seen one downward revision after another to the data. It’s become systematic. 

Simone Del Rosario: The latest Labor Department revision shows the U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs than previously reported over 12 months ending March 2024. 

That’s about a 30% hit to what we thought the economy added. It doesn’t mean those jobs were lost, it means they were never there in the first place. Therefore, while the labor market was still strong over those 12 months, it wasn’t on quite the tear we were told it was.

It’s worth noting, these estimates will not be finalized until February 2025. 

Danielle DiMartino Booth: And it takes a lot of time for the Bureau of Labor Statistics data to work its way into subsequent revisions for the Bureau of Economic Analysis data for GDP.

Simone Del Rosario: All of these moving parts are putting the Fed’s soft landing scenario at risk. A soft landing is being able to come down from too-high inflation without triggering a recession. 

Inflation has come down quite a bit. The Fed’s preferred inflation measurement is at 2.6%, pretty close to its 2% target. And the softening labor market is all the more reason to act.

In Powell’s speech Friday, listeners will hope to hear from him that a soft landing is still in sight. 

Kathleen Hays: We know the Fed’s going to be cutting rates. We know they’re going to normalize. So it’s more of a question of when and how much and how fast.

Simone Del Rosario: Complicating matters is the upcoming election. The Federal Reserve is a politically independent body and they would never want to be seen as carrying water for one party or another. 

There is only one meeting before the election, that’s the September meeting. Taking politics out of it, most economic signs point to the need to cut rates in September. But that will likely give the economy a boost, and that’s why in an interview with Bloomberg, Donald Trump says cutting before the election is “something that they know they shouldn’t be doing.”

The next Fed meeting starts the day after Election Day, but don’t expect the Fed to wait that long with the labor market showing these cracks. 

We’ll bring you the biggest takeaways from Powell’s speech Friday, so download the Straight Arrow News app and enable notifications so you don’t miss it.

Business

How falling mortgage rates could impact housing affordability this year


Mortgage rates hit the lowest level in more than a year, which is a little like putting the cart before the horse, but lenders know the horse is coming. That horse is the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates, which experts believe will happen in September.

What will all of this mean for housing affordability? Watch the video above to see the data behind the story.

Why mortgage rates are falling

Mortgage rates are falling in anticipation that the Fed will lower the Fed funds rate, the interest rate banks are charged for overnight lending. It basically acts like a benchmark for all other consumer borrowing. 

When the Fed went on this rate hike campaign to make borrowing more expensive and slow down inflation, mortgage rates jacked up and the dream of buying a home quickly got out of reach for many Americans.

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Peak mortgage rates are coming off the cliff but don’t expect those historically low interest rates from the height of the pandemic. When analyzing decades of data, today’s mortgage rates aren’t that high historically. Before 2000, these rates would have been a steal. Today, they’re uncomfortably high thanks to another factor: Home prices.

Home prices off peak but by how much?

If only we’d all had the foresight and means to buy a home when it felt like the world was coming to an end in the spring of 2020. Back then, the median sales price of a home in the U.S. was $317,000.

After setting record highs in 2022 at around $443,000, home prices are going back down, but at $412,000, can that be considered affordable? It depends on how short your memory is. 

The median sales price is nearly $100,000 more than it was five years ago, and it’s double what it was 15 years ago during the depths of the Great Recession. 

Rising inventory could help

Since there are no credible signs the housing market is about to crash, lowering interest rates and lower prices are good enough signs for more movement in the housing market, and we’re seeing that with rising inventory. 

The active listings are back up to levels not seen since early COVID-19 days. More houses on the market means more competition on the selling side, which could be the first win for buyers in a while. But experts don’t expect prices to decrease all that much, because inventory is still so much lower than what’s needed. 

The typical family still can’t afford the typical home

That brings us to housing affordability and whether the typical family earns enough to qualify for a mortgage on a typical loan. For most of the past year, that answer has been no. 

The National Association of Realtors measures this using price, income and mortgage data, assuming a 20% down payment. An index amount above 100 means the typical family can afford the typical home loan. A value below 100 means the typical family with the median household income will not qualify for a loan on the median-priced home.

From April-June 2024, the index has been below 100, meaning it’s unaffordable. At last measurement, the index sits at 93.3, which means the median family income is 93.3% of what’s needed to qualify for the loan.

Where in the country houses are still affordable

The Midwest is the only place in the country today where the typical family can afford the typical home. In the Midwest, the qualifying income for the typical loan is around $84,000 while the median family income exceeds $100,000.

But the secret is getting out. Realtor.com says Columbus, Ohio, is the most popular housing market in the country this year. And there’s not a single housing market on the list west of the Mississippi River. 

In the West, the qualifying income is nearly double that of the Midwest at $164,208. The median family income is $112,609. In the West, the affordability index is a staggering 68.6.

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Simone Del Rosario: Mortgage rates hit their lowest level in more than a year, which is a little like putting the cart before the horse but we know the horse is coming. 

That horse is the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates. What will all this mean for housing affordability? We’re going to tell you the story in five charts. 

Mortgage rates are falling in anticipation the Fed will lower the fed funds rate, the interest rate banks are charged for overnight lending. It basically acts like a benchmark for all other consumer borrowing. 

When the Fed went on this rate hike campaign to make borrowing more expensive and slow down inflation, mortgage rates jacked up and the dream of buying a home quickly got out of reach for many Americans.  

We’re coming off the cliff now but don’t expect those historically low interest rates from pandemic past. 

And when you really zoom out, mortgage rates aren’t that high compared to decades past. Before 2000, these rates would have been a steal. Today, they’re uncomfortably high thanks to another factor: Home prices. 

If only we’d all had the foresight and means to buy a home when it felt like the world was coming to an end the spring of 2020. 

After setting record highs in 2022, home prices are going back down, but “affordable?” It depends on how short your memory is. 

The median sales price is nearly $100,000 more than 5 years ago, and it’s double what it was 15 years ago, during the depths of the Great Recession. 

Since there are no credible signs the housing market is about to crash, lowering interest rates and lowering prices are a good enough sign for more movement in the housing market, and we’re seeing that with rising inventory. 

The active listings are back up to levels not seen since early COVID days. More houses on the market means more competition on the selling side, which could be the first win for buyers in a while. But experts don’t expect prices to decrease all that much, because inventory is still so much lower than what’s needed. 

That brings us to housing affordability, and whether the typical family earns enough to qualify for a mortgage on a typical loan. For most of the past year, that answer has been no. 

The National Association of Realtors measures this using price, income and mortgage data, assuming a 20% down payment. Anything above 100 means the typical family can do it! Everything below 100 means they won’t qualify. 

The Midwest is the only place in the country today where the typical family can afford the typical home. In the Midwest, the qualifying income is around $84,000. In the West, it’s nearly double. 

But the secret is getting out! Realtor.com says Columbus, Ohio, is the most popular housing market in the country this year. And there’s not a single housing market on this list west of the Mississippi. 

To stay up on what’s happening with the housing market and all things economy, download the Straight Arrow News app and enable notifications. Be sure to click business to get stories like this. 

Business

Collectibles from Star Wars to Babe Ruth fetch big bucks in post-COVID rebound


A prototype of the iconic golden bikini worn by Carrie Fisher in 1983’s “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi” sold for $175,000 at auction. The sale was part of a $5.9 million Hollywood blockbuster for Heritage Auctions as the collectibles and memorabilia market continues its upward trend following a COVID-19 pandemic-inspired boom.

The bikini, sold by Heritage Auctions on Friday, July 26, was not even worn by the actress in Jabba the Hutt’s palace in the movie. Instead, the film’s costume designers made a more comfortable version for Fisher to wear, though she told NPR in 2016 that it still did not hit the comfort mark.

In the same auction, Heritage sold a Y-wing fighter model that was part of the trench run that eventually blew up the Death Star in “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.” The “hero” model is extremely detailed and was used for close-ups while filming the special effects sequences. That model sold for $1.55 million last week.

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“It’s another cultural phenomenon,” Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena told Straight Arrow News. “Because these movies and TV shows use practical effects, not CGI [computer-generated imagery]. They actually used miniatures. They’re so coveted because look at what we can do with CGI. But why do the movies with practical effects look so much better?”

Maddalena said interest in entertainment-related memorabilia has been growing steadily for decades.

“Collecting movie props in a serious way started in about 1970 and it’s been a pretty steady ride,” he said. “We haven’t had a giant escalation in price. It’s been pretty healthy.”

“You can go anywhere in the world and they know who Harry Potter is,” Maddalena added. “You can go anywhere in the world and you can say ‘Hasta la vista, baby,’ and they know that’s Arnold [Schwarzenegger]. Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, these are ‘American pastime.’ It’s different. It’s not that one’s better than the other.”

While entertainment collectibles may have more of a global appeal, they do not fetch the high dollars that sports memorabilia does. In fact, Heritage will auction off the jersey worn by baseball icon Babe Ruth when he “called his shot” in the 1932 World Series. That jersey is expected to fetch as much as $30 million when the gavel bangs at the end of August.

“Babe Ruth is bigger than baseball,” Maddalena told SAN. “Babe Ruth was a cultural phenomenon.”

The “called shot” happened in the fifth inning of Game 3 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. It was a ruckus game and baseball historians are split on whether he was pointing to the opposing pitcher, the Cubs’ dugout or the fence.

“Whether this call shot is a myth or it actually was him pointing at the fence [where] he hit a home run, [it] doesn’t matter,” Maddalena said. “It’s the fact that you have probably the most important image in sports, in baseball history, for sure, of Ruth calling that shot. You have that tunic that you can match to that moment in time. It’s priceless.”

The last time the jersey sold was in 2005 for $940,000.

After the COVID-inspired boom in value for collectibles, the “King of Collectibles” Ken Goldin called the massive price increases an “irrational, unsustainable spike.” Since then, record values have fallen for collectible mainstays like trading cards, watches and even rare whiskeys and wines.

“A Charizard, which is the greatest Pokemon card, let’s just say you had a PSA 10 Charizard: perfect card, first edition,” Maddalena, who also handles Heritage’s trading card business, said. “That card, pre-COVID, was $15,000 to $18,000. [At] the height of COVID, it was $400,000, now the card is about $250,000. If you compare $250,000 to pre-COVID, it’s still really, really good.”

Heritage will list Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the “Wizard of Oz” in December, and while Maddalena has had the pleasure of listing items from major films, there are still items out there he would love to get his hands on.

“The only thing I’ve never seen is Maria, the robot from ‘Metropolis,'” he told SAN. “So in the movie, it gets destroyed in the fire. But I’m sure they made more than one. So if that existed, God knows what that would be worth.”

For context, a lot of nine rare and early movie posters, which included one for the 1927 film “Metropolis,” brought in $1.2 million at auction in 2012.

The overall collectibles market is still growing, according to research firm Market Decipher. They said it will cross $600 billion this year, gaining more than 9% over last year. They project the overall collectibles market will eclipse $1 trillion in the next decade.

While there is big money to be made in the world of collectibles, Maddalena said there is more to collecting than profit.

“Search out people who are knowledgeable,” he said. “Learn, and then the fun part about it is no matter what you spend, the joy you get from it, that’s what this is all about. This is your hobby. Hobbies are healthy. They give you personal enjoyment and sometimes they make money.”

“You meet amazing people you would never meet anywhere else,” he added. “You form lifelong friendships with people who are so unlike you because you have something in common. And I think that’s the value of collecting.”

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Simone Del Rosario:

How much is a piece of history worth? A lot, right?

What if that piece of history is a piece of one of the greatest legends in sports?

The jersey worn by Babe Ruth when he “called his shot” in the 1932 World Series is expected to fetch $30 Million when it the gavel pounds at Heritage Auctions the end of August.

Joe Maddalena:

“Babe Ruth is bigger than baseball. Babe Ruth was a cultural phenomenon, the way he lived his life, he died young.”

“My name is Joe Maddalena. I’m an executive vice president at heritage auctions here in Dallas. I’ve been doing this for 40 years.”

Simone Del Rosario:

The “called shot” happened in the fifth inning of Game 3 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. While every kid has recreated the moment on the diamond, baseball historians are unclear whether he was pointing at the opposing pitcher, the Cubs’ dugout, or the fence.

Joe Maddalena:

“But I think, because he is baseball and whether this call shot is a myth or it actually was him pointing at the fence [where] he hit home run, [it] doesn’t matter. It’s the fact that you have probably the most important image in sports, in baseball history, for sure, of Ruth calling that shot. You have that tunic that you can match to that moment in time. It’s priceless.$10 million, $100 million.”

Simone Del Rosario:

The jersey last sold in 2005 for a paltry $940,000, by comparison.

Memorabilia and collectibles have been coveted items for decades, but it hit a fever pitch during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Prices soared so much at the time, the “King of Collectibles” himself, Ken Goldin, called the rapid price increase an “irrational, unsustainable spike.”

He would know. Since then, we’ve seen those record values fall for collectibles like trading cards, watches, and even rare whiskeys and wines. But fall by how much?

Joe Maddalena:

“So pre-COVID, a Charizard, which is the greatest Pokemon card, let’s just say you had a PSA 10 Charizard. Perfect card, first Edition, that card, pre covid, was $15,000 to $18,000. [At] the height of covid, it was $400,000 now the card is about $250,000. If you compare $250,000 to pre-COVID, it’s still really, really good.”

“Actually trading cards is an area that I oversee, and we’re up 25% from last year. So I think it was just a Bounce for trading cards.”

Simone Del Rosario:

The overall collectibles market is still growing, according to research firm Market Decipher. They say it will cross $600 billion this year, gaining more than 9% over last year. They project the overall collectibles market will eclipse $1 trillion in the next decade.

Joe Maddalena:

“So many sports collectors are like, ‘gee, I’d like to diversify.’”

“Collecting movie props in a serious way, started in about 1970 and it’s been a pretty steady ride. We haven’t had a giant escalation in price. It’s been pretty healthy.”

Simone Del Rosario:

Heritage had a prototype of Princess Leia’s iconic gold bikini worn in Jabba the Hutt’s palace in 1983’s Return of the Jedi.

They just sold the piece for $175,000 at auction last week.

Joe Maddalena:

“Film is a cultural currency. You can go anywhere in the world and they know who Harry Potter is. You can go anywhere in the world and you can say ‘hasta la vista, baby.’ And they know that’s Arnold [Schwarzenegger]. Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, these are American pastime. It’s different. It’s not that one’s better than the other.”

The bikini is nothing short of iconic, continuing pop culture relevance throughout the past 40 years.

“OK, Here we go, I’m Jabba’s prisoner, and you…”

Simone Del Rosario:

Costume designers made a different version of the bikini for screen to make it more comfortable for Carrie Fisher.

But still, they didn’t do enough as she told NPR in November of 2016.

Carrie Fisher:

“It wasn’t my choice. When he showed me the outfit, I didn’t – I thought he was kidding, and it made me very nervous. And, you know, they wouldn’t let me – I had to sit very straight ’cause I couldn’t have lines in the side of – on my sides, you know, like a little crease. No creases were allowed. So I had to sit very, very rigid straight.”

Simone Del Rosario:

While the bikini may have demanded the most attention, it wasn’t even the Star Wars item that brought in the most dough during last week’s auction…

That honor goes to a Y-wing fighter model that was part of the trench run that eventually blew up the Death Star in A New Hope. It fetched $1.55 million.

The model sold was one used for close up shots, meaning it’s incredibly detailed.

Joe Maddalena:

“It’s another cultural phenomenon. Because these movies and TV shows use practical effects, not CGI, they actually use miniatures. They’re so coveted, because look at what we can do with CGI. But why do the movies with practical effects look so much better?”

Simone Del Rosario:

While Maddalena has had the pleasure of listing items from Star Wars to Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz – those go up in December – there are still items out there he’d love to get his hands on.

Joe Maddalena:

“The only thing I’ve never seen is Maria, the robot from Metropolis.If that exists, it’s possible. So in the movie, it gets destroyed in the fire. But I’m sure they made more than one. So that would be like to me, if that existed, that God knows what that would be worth.”

Simone Del Rosario:

Some collectors are going to try and squeeze all the money they can out of these items. Investing in collectibles can draw in greater returns than some of the best bull markets. But Maddalena says what makes the collectibles market is community.

Joe Maddalena:

“Search out people who are knowledgeable. Learn,and then the fun part about it is, no matter what you spend, the joy you get from it… That’s what this is all about. This is your hobby. Hobbies are healthy. They give you personal enjoyment, and sometimes they make money.”

“You meet amazing people you would never meet anywhere else. You form lifelong friendships with people who are so unlike you because you have something in common. And I think that’s the value of collecting.”

Business

Here’s what happened when Americans received $1,000 a month in 3-year study


Years ago, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman set out to discover what would happen if people were given cash every month with no strings attached. This week, the results are in from the largest universal basic income study in the U.S., though how it went depends on how one interprets the findings.

Right-leaning Reason writes, “Bad News for Universal Basic Income: Researchers found that giving people $1,000 every month for three years resulted in decreased productivity and earnings, and more leisure time.”

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Center-rated The Register writes, “Sam Altman’s basic income experiment finds that money can indeed buy happiness: But not necessarily health.”

Keeping in tune with Straight Arrow News‘ mission of unbiased, straight facts, let’s take a look at the facts from the research paper itself.

The ground rules

Researchers randomly selected 1,000 low-income people to receive $1,000 per month with no conditions for three years. A separate control group of 2,000 people received $50 per month to participate in the research.

The people in this study had an average household income of $29,900 in 2019, so $1,000 a month translated to a 40% increase in household income.

In 2016, Sam Altman wrote about launching the Basic Income Project and his desire to answer some theoretical questions about it.

“Do people sit around and play video games, or do they create new things?” Altman asked. “Are people happy and fulfilled? Do people, without the fear of not being able to eat, accomplish far more and benefit society far more? And do recipients, on the whole, create more economic value than they receive?”

The results

Excluding the free money received, individual income fell by about $1,500 per year, or 5%. It led to a 2 percentage point decrease in labor market participation and people worked roughly 1.3-1.4 fewer hours per week.

So what did they do with that extra time? Researchers saw the largest increase in leisure time, followed by smaller increases in transportation – people are driving around doing more – and time spent on finances.

Researchers found no impact on the quality of employment. They did see hints that people were thinking about entrepreneurial endeavors and there were some signs younger participants were investing more in education.

Researcher Eva Vivalt wrote, “Overall, the negative effects on labor supply do not appear to be offset by other productive activities, and we do not observe people getting better jobs over the 3-year duration of the program.”

The study concluded, “While decreased labor market participation is generally characterized negatively, policymakers should take into account the fact that recipients have demonstrated–by their own choices–that time away from work is something they prize highly.”

Universal basic income is a hot topic in Silicon Valley. That’s because the tech world is actively developing AI that could make some jobs obsolete.

“There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better,” Elon Musk said in 2017. “What to do about mass unemployment? This is gonna be a massive social challenge. And I think, ultimately, we will have to have some kind of universal basic income. I don’t think we’re gonna have a choice.”

“These are not things I wish would happen,” Musk continued. “These are simply things that probably will happen.”

Altman, who was behind this study, said that while UBI is not a full solution, it’s a component that should be pursued in the face of AI advancement.

“As a cushion through a dramatic [employment] transition,” he said of UBI. “And the world should eliminate poverty if able to do so. I think it’s a great thing to do as a small part of the bucket of solutions.”

The idea of paying people with no conditions is incredibly expensive – the Tax Foundation said Andrew Yang’s $1,000-per-month proposal would cost $2.8 trillion per year. And many believe it’s an affront to capitalism.

“This is straight out of the Karl Marx playbook. This is not out of the Adam Smith playbook,” radio host Dave Ramsey said during his show last year. “Karl Marx, Father of Communism. Adam Smith wrote the Tome that we were all required to read on capitalism if we took economics. My friend Art Laffer, one of the leading economists in the world, says, ‘If you pay people not to work, please expect them to not work.'”

Again, the people from this study did still work – try living off $12,000 a year – but they did take off a little more than an hour per week.

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Years ago, the founder of ChatGPT set out to discover what would happen if you give people cash every month, no strings attached.

The results are in from the largest Universal Basic Income study in the U.S., though how it went depends on how one interprets the findings.

Right-leaning Reason writes: Bad News for Universal Basic Income: Researchers found that giving people $1,000 every month for three years resulted in decreased productivity and earnings, and more leisure time.

While center-rated The Register writes: Sam Altman’s basic income experiment finds that money can indeed buy happiness: But not necessarily health.

Keeping in tune with Straight Arrow News’ mission of unbiased, straight facts, let’s look at the facts from the research paper itself.

First, the ground rules. Researchers randomly selected 1,000 low-income people to receive $1,000 a month, no conditions, for three years. A separate control group of 2,000 people received $50 a month to participate in the research.

The people in this study had an average household income of $29,900 in 2019, so $1,000 a month translated to a 40% increase in household income.

In 2016, Sam Altman wrote about launching the Basic Income Project and his desire to answer some theoretical questions about it.

“Do people sit around and play video games, or do they create new things? Are people happy and fulfilled? Do people, without the fear of not being able to eat, accomplish far more and benefit society far more? And do recipients, on the whole, create more economic value than they receive?”

So now that you know the rules and the lens of focused intention, here are the results.

Excluding the free money received, individual income fell by about $1,500 a year, or 5%.

It led to a 2 percentage point decrease in labor market participation.

And people worked roughly 80 fewer minutes per week.

So what did they do with that extra time? Researchers saw the largest increase in leisure time, followed by smaller increases in transportation – people are driving around doing more – and time spent on finances.

They found no impact on quality of employment. They did see hints that people were thinking about entrepreneurial endeavors, and there were some signs younger participants were investing more in education.

Researcher Eva Vivalt wrote: Overall, the negative effects on labor supply do not appear to be offset by other productive activities, and we do not observe people getting better jobs over the 3-year duration of the program.

But the study concludes: While decreased labor market participation is generally characterized negatively, policymakers should take into account the fact that recipients have demonstrated–by their own choices–that time away from work is something they prize highly.

Universal Basic Income, or UBI, is a hot topic in Silicon Valley. That’s because the tech world is actively developing AI that could make people’s jobs obsolete.

“There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better. What to do about massive unemployment. This is gonna be a massive social challenge. And I think, ultimately, we will have to have some kind of universal basic income. I don’t think we’re gonna have a choice.”
“These are not things I wish would happen. These are simply things that probably will happen.”

OpenAI’s Sam Altman, who was behind this study, said that while UBI is not a full solution, it’s a component that should be pursued in the face of AI advancement.

“As cushion through a dramatic transition and just as like the world should eliminate poverty if able to do so. I think it’s a great thing to do as a small part of the bucket of solutions.”

Of course, the idea of paying people with no conditions is incredibly expensive – the Tax Foundation said Andrew Yang’s $1,000 per month proposal would cost $2.8 trillion per year. And many believe its an affront to capitalism.

“This is straight out of the Karl Marx playbook. This is not out of the Adam Smith playbook. Let me help you with that. Karl Marx, Father of Communism. Adam Smith wrote the Tome that we were all required to read on capitalism if we took Economics. So, my friend Art Laffer, one of the leading economists in the world says, ‘if you pay people not to work, please expect them to not work.”

Again, the people from this study did still work – try living off $12k a year – but they did take off a little more than an hour per week.

For unbiased straight facts, download the straight arrow news app for stories like this.

Business

NBA wants to play on Team Amazon. Will TNT take fight to the court?


The battle over the National Basketball Association’s broadcast rights looks like it is headed to court. On Wednesday, July 24, the league rejected TNT’s bid to match Amazon Prime Video’s $1.8 billion offer.

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It’s been quite a bit of back and forth over the last 10 days. On Tuesday, July 16, the NBA’s Board of Governors approved a massive 11-year, $76 billion deal for its media rights with Disney, Amazon and NBC.

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The following day, the league provided the details of the deal to its longtime partner TNT Sports and its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. According to the previous broadcast deal, Warner had five days to match one of the offers.

On Monday, the network did just that and challenged Amazon’s bid, which offered hope for fans who love TNT’s NBA coverage and its studio show “Inside the NBA.” But the league rejected the offer on Wednesday.

“Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer and, therefore, we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon,” the NBA said in a statement.

It appears the sticking point is the league’s move into streaming.

“Throughout these negotiations, our primary objective has been to maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans,” NBA’s statement said. “Our new arrangement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements. All three partners have also committed substantial resources to promote the league and enhance the fan experience.”

Back in June, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was adamant that streaming would be an important part of the next deal. While details of the Warner match weren’t made public, it’s been speculated that it included games streamed on Max. TNT Sports and Warner believe they have met the requirements.

“We have matched the Amazon offer, as we have a contractual right to do, and do not believe the NBA can reject it,” TNT Sports said in a press release Wednesday. “We think they have grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights with respect to the 2025-2026 season and beyond, and we will take appropriate action.”

“The NBA was obviously advised by their high-powered lawyers that TNT did not match, perhaps due to a cable company having no ability to match a streaming service,” Andrew Brandt, a former professional sports executive and executive director of the Jeffery S. Moorad Center for the Study of Sports Law, told Straight Arrow News in an email. “As with everything, it comes down to the contract: did it address that TNT would have no ability to match a streaming service? Or did it not? In this case, it is not about the lawyers in the dispute; it is about the lawyers who drafted the ‘match.'”

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Simone Del Rosario:

Oh what a 10-day span it’s been for the NBA and its broadcast partners.

Last Tuesday the league’s board of governors approved an 11-year, $76 billion deal for media rights with Disney, Amazon and NBC.

The following day, the league provided its longtime partner TNT Sports and Warner Bros Discovery the details of the deal.

Just as it seemed TNT would be riding the bench starting with the 2025-2026 season, they threw up a prayer on Monday.

Or as the network said, they had executed their contractual option and “reviewed the offers and matched one of them.”

The “One of them” in question was Amazon’s $1.8 billion per year bid.

“Not so fast my friend.”

I know. I’m mixing my sports here.

Warner Bros. thought their offer was nothing but net. But the NBA blocked the shot. In a statement released Wednesday, they said “Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer and, therefore, we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon.”

Time out.

According to the NBA, the deals they negotiated “maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans. Our new arrangement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had been adamant streaming had to be a big part of the deal. And while it was speculated some of the Warner Bros. match included games streamed on MAX, apparently the league didn’t think it did enough to meet the promise of a full time streamer in Amazon Prime Video.

For their part, TNT Sports says they matched the Amazon offer, as was their right, and now they’re calling foul on the NBA.

Andrew Brandt, a former Professional Sports Executive told Straight Arrow News in an email:

“The NBA was obviously advised by their high-powered lawyers that TNT did not match, perhaps due to a cable company having no ability to match a streaming service. As with everything, it comes down to the contract: did it address that TNT would have no ability to match a streaming service? Or did it not? In this case, it is not about the lawyers in the dispute; it is about the lawyers who drafted the ‘match.’”

You can bet on this heading to court – the legal one, that is – as TNT Sports says its contractual rights have been “grossly misinterpreted” and they will take “appropriate action.”

The NBA’s decision continues to throw TNT’s famed studio show “Inside the NBA” in limbo, and, for now, Charles Barkley won’t have to think too hard about going back on his promise of retiring from TV after the next season.

Charles Barkley:

“No matter what happens, next year is going to be my last year on television.

International

Salt Lake’s second chance: Awarded 2034 Olympic Games after stained 2002


The Winter Olympics will return to Salt Lake City in 2034 more than 30 years after a bribery scandal plagued the 2002 Games that graced the mountain city. Despite the clean nature of the current bid process, the International Olympic Committee has its stipulations. 

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The announcement from IOC President Thomas Bach on Wednesday, July 24, just days before the opening of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, confirmed what has been speculated for months. The French Alps will host the 2030 Winter Olympics and Salt Lake will host in 2034. 

But for Salt Lake City, the IOC put a clause in the contract that pressures officials, including Republican Gov. Spencer Cox, to lobby against a federal investigation into Chinese swimmers at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which took place in 2021 after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Some Chinese athletes had tested positive for Trimetazidine, a banned heart medication, at a meet months before the Olympics. The World Anti-Doping Agency allowed the swimmers to compete after China’s Anti-Doping Agency blamed the “extremely low” concentration of the drug on contaminated food. The Chinese swimming team took home three gold medals in Tokyo. Many of the same swimmers under scrutiny will be competing in Paris. 

While the U.S. has opened its own investigation, Bach contends WADA should be the only body to investigate Olympic doping cases. Officials in Utah said they will do their part to honor that clause. 

“We’ll work very closely with the Department of Justice,” Cox said.  “We’ll work with the Senate. We’ll work with the Biden administration and whatever the next administration is so that we can get a comfort level in what we’re going to do to work together because the United States cannot clean up sport by itself. That’s impossible. And conversely, WADA can’t clean up sport by itself without countries that are willing to participate and work together.”

Despite the strings, citizens of Salt Lake City gathered in the early morning hours to await the announcement and celebrate the decision. 

A second chance for Salt Lake City

The bribery scandal tied to the 2002 Winter Games forced the IOC to change the way it picks host cities. Bribing IOC members at the time was a poorly kept secret for Olympic insiders, but there wasn’t a ton of proof before Salt Lake City’s corrupt bid. 

“There was an IOC member from Togo; Togo doesn’t compete in the Winter Olympics,” Olympic Historian David Wallechinsky told Straight Arrow News. “That didn’t matter, because the guy still voted. So they kept flying him out to Salt Lake City. Well, that wasn’t good enough, so they had to include a stopover in Paris so his wife could go shopping on the bid committee’s pocketbook. The whole thing was so ridiculous. But they got the games and that was all they cared about.”

The scandal threatened the legacy of the games and the sanctity of the Olympics. Several members of the IOC were fired and Salt Lake City organizing committee leaders faced charges. In its wake, the IOC changed the drawn-out bidding process that lent itself to corruption.

Now, two panels are permanently open to talks with any cities open to hosting. And these panels can also approach cities they deem fit to host the games.

Similar to the way Salt Lake City and the French Alps were announced at the same time, when the IOC got two compelling bids for this year’s Summer Games from Paris and Los Angeles, it awarded Paris 2024 and LA the 2028 Games.

You can get more information on the history of corruption in the Olympic process here.

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David Wallechinsky:

“Salt Lake City is going to get the Winter Olympics again. But in a more honest way.”

Simone Del Rosario:

Call it a second chance.

Thomas Bach:
“The International Olympic Committee has the honor to announce that the 27th Winter Olympic Games 2034 are awarded to Salt Lake City Utah.” (hold sound for a bit of applause/crowd shot, can carry over into track)

Simone Del Rosario:

Two days before the Opening Ceremony for the Paris Olympic Games, the IOC confirmed what has been speculated for months.

The Winter Olympics will return to Salt Lake City 32 years after it last hosted, when a bribery scandal rocked the Olympic world.

Bribing IOC members to win Olympic bids was a poorly-kept secret for Olympic insiders. But there wasn’t a lot of public proof until Salt Lake City’s 2002 Winter Games bid.

David Wallechinsky:

“The Salt Lake City people realize that you you had to keep a file on each IOC voting member. And then, you know, do whatever you could to get their vote. And so there was one case in particular, caught my attention, where there was an IOC member from Togo. Well, Togo doesn’t compete in the Winter Olympics. That didn’t matter, because the guy still voted. So they kept flying him out to Salt Lake City. Well, that wasn’t good enough. So they had to include the stopover in Paris so his wife could go shopping on the bid committee’s pocketbook. It’s just the whole thing was so ridiculous. But they got the games, and that was all they cared about.”

Simone Del Rosario:

The scandal threatened the Games and the sanctity of the Olympics. Several IOC members were fired and Salt Lake City host committee leaders faced charges. Decades later, the city and the IOC have toiled their way into good graces.

After decades of bid-rigging scandals, the IOC changed the drawn-out bidding process that historically lent itself to corruption.

Now, two IOC panels are permanently open to talks with any cities open to hosting. And these panels can also make the first move and approach cities they think might be the right fit.

When the IOC got two compelling bids for this year’s Games from Paris and Los Angeles, they awarded Paris and said, LA, you can get the next Summer Games.

Same thing happened with the Winter Games. The IOC liked both the French Alps and Salt Lake City and awarded them for 2030 and 2034.

The SLC got the Games cleanly this time around but it still comes with strings.

The IOC put a clause in the contract pressuring Utah officials, including Gov. Spencer Cox, to lobby against a federal investigation into doping by Chinese swimmers at the Tokyo Games.

Some Chinese athletes had tested positive for a banned heart drug called TMZ at a meet months before the Tokyo Games. The World Anti-Doping Agency allowed the swimmers to compete after China’s Anti-Doping Agency blamed the “extremely low” concentration of the drug on contaminated food. China’s swimming team won three gold medals that year. By the way, the same swimmers in question will be competing in Paris.

While the U.S. has opened its own investigation, IOC President Thomas Bach contends the World Anti-Doping Agency should be the only body to investigate Olympic doping cases. Here’s Utah Governor Cox addressing his part in all of this now that Salt Lake City has the Games.

Gov. Spencer Cox:

“We’ll work very closely with the Department of Justice, we’ll work with the Senate, we’ll work with the Biden administration and whatever the next administration is so that we can get a comfort level in what we’re going to do to work together. Because the United States cannot clean up sport by itself. That’s impossible. And conversely, WADA can’t clean up sport by itself without countries that are willing to participate and work together.”

Simone Del Rosario:

Strings aside, the citizens of Salt Lake City are ecstatic for the games returning to Utah, gathering in the wee hours of the morning to hear the announcement.

Person 1:

“The world gets to see Salt Lake on the global stage, again, I mean, this place really is the best community in the United States and the whole world will get to experience it. And I’m stoked for that”.

Simone Del Rosario:

If you’re hungry for Olympic content, you’ll love this piece we did on the history of

{if we can do one of those things where we show the story in app stuff. }

Olympic corruption and what goes into a successful Olympic bid. Search for it on the Straight Arrow News app.

Tech

Podcasting Popularity: How the format is growing in revenue, viewership, nostalgia 


The podcasting format has been around for decades but it’s seen significant growth in the past few years growing ad revenue and new shows popping up from all over the world, including at Straight Arrow News. SAN’s Ryan Robertson has held many positions in his broadcast career, including reporter, producer, and news director, and now he’s taken on a new role as a podcaster.

“What a time to be alive when we can live in this opportunity that this technology that allows us to reach so many people in so many places with relative ease to me is just kind of mind-boggling,” Robertson told Straight Arrow News.

Each week, Robertson speaks on the latest developments in the military world in his podcast “Weapons and Warfare.” He said the medium is giving him the freedom to talk about these topics as they are meant to be discussed with an audience on a wide range of platforms. 

“We’re given a certain amount of time to tell our stories that we gather from around the country and really explore the space on how we do that, we’re not pigeonholed into a certain formula or certain format,” Robertson said. “We’re able to say this is the best way this story needs to be told, so that’s how we’re going to tell this story.”

Podcasting by the numbers

Robertson is part of the ever-growing population of podcasters behind the resurgence of the audio industry. Not since radio was king have people flocked to audio as their go-to source for entertainment. According to data from Loopex Digital, there are over 414 million podcasts out in the world, each trying to get listeners to like and subscribe.

Straight Arrow News spoke with iHeartPodcasts president Will Pearson as he was on his way to discuss a potential podcasting project. Home to more than 750 original podcasts, iHeart is the No. 1 podcast publisher in the world.

“What’s been so incredibly exciting over the past four years is seeing podcasting develop into the newest mass reach medium,” Pearson said. “If you look back five, six years ago, you’d call it a niche medium, just this really exciting, interesting space, just not reaching the masses. Today, podcasting is reaching 135 million people every single month in the U.S. alone, almost half a billion people when you look beyond that.”

Though the word podcast was first coined in 2004, the medium truly popped onto the scene most notably a decade ago when “Serial” grabbed listeners by their ears. The series has been downloaded more than 300 million times.

“Serial” became the first podcast to receive a Peabody Award and launched the true-crime genre, inspiring not only podcast creators but influencing television productions as seen in Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.”

In 2006, 22% of the adult population in the U.S. was aware of podcasting. In 2022, that number rose to 80%, according to Statista.  

Edison Research’s Infinite Dial 2024 survey found 47% of Americans 12 years and older have listened to a podcast in the past week, up 10% over last year. 

In addition, 192 million people, 67% of the U.S. population, said they have listened to a podcast in their lifetime.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Matt Shapo said there is pretty much a podcast for everyone these days.

“There’s this incredible opportunity for people that want to learn or know or dive into any topic of interest to them across so many different genres and verticals,” Shapo said. “That’s the beauty of podcasting.”

“There’s so much wonderful content out there that podcast creators are producing every day and there’s this wide canvas of content that people who love to learn about things get a chance to interact with,” Shapo continued.

Let’s Make A Deal: Podcast Edition

The podcast business is booming with the biggest podcast of all, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” with over 14.5 million followers on the Spotify platform alone. Spotify struck a multi-year deal with the host earlier this year reportedly worth around $250 million dollars.

That news came just days after SiriusXM’s reported $100 million three-year deal for exclusive rights to SmartLess, the podcast hosted by actors Jason Batemen, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett.

This does not mean these podcasts are only available on these specific platforms; it just means these audio outlets are able to give their subscribers perks like early access and the companies themselves gain ad sale revenue.

And, boy, are there ad sales!  

“A lot of people are describing this current era as a golden age of audio and podcasting is obviously right smack dab in the center in this renaissance of audio,” Shapo said. “You’re starting to see more large-scale brand advertisers coming to podcasting, understanding that they can find the audience they want to find, they can tell the stories they want to tell, and they can find the reach and the scale they need.”

According to the IAB, advertising revenue is projected to increase 12 percent this year to $2 billion and reach nearly $2.6 billion by 2026. 

“There really is something very special about the deep-dive conversations that podcasters tend to have — really long-form content that you don’t get almost anywhere else, really bespoke content produced by really passionate people who form these incredibly close, parasocial bonds with their listeners, really become meaningful relationships,” Shapo said. “Those meaningful relationships between the people creating the content and the people consuming the content is really what’s driven all this spectacular growth.”

Not only is the growth of the first-time advertisers something to talk about, Pearson noted that the change in the type of advertisers is a testament to the strength of the podcasting industry.

“So if you look back five or six years ago, the majority of your advertisers in this space would have been what we call direct response advertisers, you think your mattress companies, your box meal companies, you know those that give you a discount code to say, ‘The next time you visit the website, be sure to use the code for our podcast and you’ll get a discount on this,’” Pearson said.

“Those direct response advertisers are the ones that proved the effectiveness of host read ads and podcast advertising. And then big brands started waking up to that and realizing, ‘Oh, wow, this is an opportunity to engage people in a very intimate and new and direct way.’”

And podcast listeners are paying attention to all these ads. Dentsu’s Attention Economy Podcast Study showed podcast ads hold consumers’ attention longer than social media, digital video and TV ads.  

The IAB said the comedy and sports genres are at the top of the list when it comes to both listeners and advertisers. Shapo said this shows people are not just heading to podcasts to be informed and find community, but also to kick back and be entertained.

Rewatch podcasts bring on the nostalgia

There is another podcast genre doing the same, while also making nostalgia hip: the rewatch podcast. Examples include “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” “That Was Us,” The Ringer’s “The Rewatchables,” and “How Rude Tanneritos: A Full House Rewatch Podcast.”

Pearson said these trips down memory lane make up one of the most popular genres for iHeartMedia. 

“I guess that was another thing when you think about what people are looking for in podcasting — that bit of escape or that entertainment from all that is stress relieving, looking back to times that we’re less stressful,” Pearson said. “You know, thinking about the nostalgia play in podcasting is a huge one.”

“And so you know, being able to say you know what, I want to look back to 10 years ago when I was in love with the show ‘One Tree Hill,’ and to have Sophia Bush and the cast from ‘One Tree Hill’ being able to revisit that show with something like ‘Drama Queens,’ and so we’ve probably got, you know, 10 different shows in the sort of broader rewatch/companion show category.”

Shapo said advertisers are also looking for ways to be part of the podcast.

Take Hyundai for example and the rewatch podcast “Pod Meets World” with the cast of the 90s ABC TGIF sitcom “Boy Meets World.” Hyundai recently sponsored episodes of the show where the cast stayed in the house depicted on the sitcom and is named in talent reads each week.

Shapo said new technologies in analyzing podcast content and viewership are helping to quell advertisers’ fears that the podcasting world is the Wild Wild West.

“As we continue to see advances in the way artificial intelligence is used to analyze podcast episode transcripts and not just understand it in sort of a blunt, keyword-based way, where there is safety to be found and where there is alignment to be found for brand advertisers,” Shapo said, adding, “but also to really get into the sentiment and the true understanding of a podcast episode, it opens up all sorts of contextually opportunities and chances for brands to do brand storytelling in these incredibly aligned ways.”

All about the audience

In the end, what these experts agree on is that it’s not the relationship between the advertiser and the show that draws the public in, but the connection between the host and the listener.  

“You have this extraordinary relationship between people who are producing podcast content and the people who are coming to consume it,” Shapo said. “That is the core bedrock reason that underlies all growth stories. That is the fundamental reason you will continue to see growth in this medium.”

That’s Ryan Robertson’s goal — to continue to develop that connection with his “Weapons and Warfare” viewers as his podcast community grows.

“One of the exciting things about being new is that we’re building that relationship with the audience,” Robertson said. “We get the opportunity to build it new and build it fresh for a new product. There are other people talking about war and military-type topics, but not in the way we’re doing it where we’re really trying to meet the masses.”

And he is not shy about joining in with that ubiquitous but useful podcaster phrase.

“I encourage everyone to like, subscribe and help us grow this thing,” Robertson said.

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[BROCK KOLLER]

RYAN ROBERTSON HAS HELD MANY POSITIONS IN HIS BROADCAST CAREER. REPORTER…PRODUCER…NEWS DIRECTOR. .

RECENTLY HE TOOK ON A NEW ROLE HERE AT STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS – PODCASTER.

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

“What a time to be alive when we can live in this opportunity that this technology that allows us to reach so many people in so many places with relative ease to me is just kind of mind boggling.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

EACH WEEK RYAN SPEAKS ON THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MILITARY WORLD IN HIS PODCAST “WEAPONS AND WARFARE.”

HE SAYS THE MEDIUM IS GIVING HIM THE FREEDOM TO TALK ABOUT THESE TOPICS AS THEY ARE MEANT TO BE DISCUSSED TO AN AUDIENCE ON A WIDE RANGE OF PLATFORMS.

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

“We’re given a certain amount of time to tell our stories that we gather from around the country and really explore the space on how we do that, we’re not pigeonholed into a certain formula or certain format, we’re able to say this is the best way this story needs to be told, so that’s how we’re going to tell this story.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

RYAN IS PART OF THE EVER-GROWING POPULATION OF PODCASTERS BEHIND THE RESURGENCE OF THE AUDIO INDUSTRY.

NOT SINCE RADIO WAS KING HAVE PEOPLE FLOCKED TO AUDIO AS THEIR GO-TO SOURCE FOR ENTERTAINMENT. BUT WHO KNOWS THE REASON?

“The Shadow Knows….hahah”

WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THERE ARE OVER 414 MILLION PODCASTS OUT IN THE WORLD – EACH TRYING TO GET YOU TO LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE.

[WILL PEARSON]

“What’s been so incredibly exciting over the past four years is seeing podcasting develop into the newest mass reach medium.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

WILL PEARSON IS THE PRESIDENT OF IHEARTPODCASTS – — THE NUMBER ONE PODCAST PUBLISHER IN THE WORLD – WITH MORE THAN 750 ORIGINALS TO ITS NAME.

[WILL PEARSON]

“If you look back five, six years ago, you’d call it a niche medium, just this really exciting, interesting space, just not reaching the masses. Today, podcasting is reaching 135 million people every single month in the U.S. alone, almost half a billion people when you look beyond that.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

THOUGH THE WORD PODCAST WAS FIRST COINED IN 2004 – THE MEDIUM TRULY POPPED ONTO THE SCENE MOST NOTABLY A DECADE AGO WHEN SERIAL GRABBED LISTENERS BY THEIR EARS.

[SARAH KOENING]

“FROM THIS AMERICAN LIFE AND WBEZ CHICAGO, IT’S SERIAL – ONE STORY TOLD WEEK BY WEEK. I’M SARAH KOENING.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

DOWNLOADED MORE THAN 300 MILLION TIMES, SERIAL BECAME THE FIRST PODCAST TO RECEIVE A PEABODY AWARD AND LAUNCHED THE TRUE-CRIME GENRE OF PODCASTING

THE SERIES INSPIRING NOT ONLY PODCAST CREATORS – BUT INFLUENCING TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS.

[ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING TEASER]

[BROCK KOLLER]

IN 2006 – 22 PERCENT OF THE ADULT POPULATION IN THE US WAS AWARE OF PODCASTING – IN 2022 – THAT NUMBER ROSE TO 80 PERCENT.

IN EDISON RESEARCH’S INFINITE DIAL 2024 SURVEY – IT FOUND 47% OF AMERICANS 12 YEARS AND OLDER HAVE LISTENED TO A PODCAST IN THE PAST WEEK – UP 10 PERCENT OVER LAST YEAR.

192 MILLION PEOPLE – 67% OF THE US POPULATION – SAY THEY HAVE LISTENED TO A PODCAST IN THEIR LIFETIME.

THE INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING BUREAU’S MATT SHAPO SAYS THERE’S PRETTY MUCH A PODCAST FOR EVERYONE THESE DAYS.

[MATT SHAPO]

“There’s this incredible opportunity for people that want to learn or know or dive into any topic of interest to them across so many different genres and verticals. That’s the beauty of podcasting. /  There’s so much wonderful content out there that podcast creators are producing every day and there’s this wide canvas of content that people who love to learn about things get a chance to interact with.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

THE PODCAST BUSINESS IS BOOMING!

“BOOM!”

THE BIGGEST PODCAST OF ALL – THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE – WITH OVER 14 POINT FIVE MILLION FOLLOWERS ON THE SPOTIFY PLATFORM ALONE.

SPOTIFY STRIKING A MULTI-YEAR DEAL WITH THE HOST EARLIER THIS YEAR REPORTEDLY WORTH AROUND 250 MILLION DOLLARS.

THAT NEWS CAME JUST DAYS AFTER SIRIUSXM’S ANNOUNCEMENT –

[SMARTLESS OPEN]

“SMART-LESS”

[BROCK KOLLER]

A REPORTED 100 MILLION DOLLARS FOR A THREE-YEAR DEAL FOR EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS TO SMARTLESS – THE PODCAST HOSTED BY ACTORS JASON BATEMEN, SEAN HAYES AND WILL ARNETT.

NOW THIS DOESN’T MEAN THESE PODCASTS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE ON THESE SPECIFIC PLATFORMS – IT JUST MEANS THESE AUDIO OUTLETS ARE ABLE TO GIVE THEIR SUBSCRIBERS PERKS LIKE EARLY ACCESS AND THE COMPANIES THEMSELVES GAIN AD SALE REVENUE.

AND, BOY, ARE THERE AD SALES!

[MATT SHAPO]

A lot of people are describing this current era as a golden age of audio and podcasting is obviously right smack dab in the center in this renaissance of audio.

“You’re starting to see more large-scale brand advertisers coming to podcasting, understanding that they can find the audience they want to find, they can tell the stories they want to tell, and they can find the reach and the scale they need.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

ACCORDING TO THE IAB – ADVERTISING REVENUE IS PROJECTED TO INCREASE 12 PERCENT THIS YEAR TO 2 BILLION DOLLARS — AND REACH NEARLY 2 POINT 6 BILLION BY 2026.

[MATT SHAPO]

“There really is something very special about the deep dive conversations that podcasters tend to have. Really longform content that you don’t get almost anywhere else. Really bespoke content produced by really passionate people who form these incredibly close, parasocial bonds  with their listeners, really become meaningful relationships. That, those meaningful relationships between the people creating the content and the people consuming the content is really what’s driven all this spectacular growth.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

NOT ONLY IS THE GROWTH OF THE FIRST-TIME PODCASTER ADVERTISER SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT – IHEARTMEDIA’S WILL PEARSON POINTS OUT THAT THE CHANGE IN THE TYPE OF ADVERTISERS IS A TESTAMENT TO THE STRENGTH OF THE PODCASTING INDUSTRY.

[WILL PEARSON]

“So if you look back five or six years ago, the majority of your advertisers in this space would have been what we call direct response advertisers, you think your mattress companies, your box meal companies, you know those that give you a discount code to say you know, the next time you visit the website, be sure to use the code for our podcast and you’ll get a discount on this…

“…those direct response advertisers are the ones that proved the effectiveness of host read ads and podcast advertising. And then big brands started waking up to that and realizing, Oh, wow, this is an opportunity to engage people in a very intimate and new and direct way.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

AND PODCAST LISTENERS ARE PAYING ATTENTION TO ALL THESE ADS. IN FACT — DENTSU’S ATTENTION ECONOMY PODCAST STUDY SHOWS PODCAST ADS HOLD CONSUMERS ATTENTION LONGER THAN SOCIAL MEDIA, DIGITAL VIDEO AND TV ADS.

IAB SAYS THE COMEDY AND SPORTS GENRES ARE AT THE TOP OF THE LIST WHEN IT COMES TO BOTH LISTENERS AND ADVERTISERS.

SHAPO SAYS THIS SHOWS PEOPLE AREN’T JUST HEADING TO PODCASTS TO BE INFORMED AND FIND COMMUNITY – BUT ALSO TO KICK BACK AND BE ENTERTAINED.

ONE OTHER PODCAST GENRE DOING THAT –

WHILE ALSO MAKING NOSTALGIA HIP – THE REWATCH PODCAST.

[WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME]

“WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME WITH ME TED DANSON AND WOODY HARRELSON (SOMETIMES)…we could hang out together”

“That was Us”

“We big three decided that we will be taking Tuesdays back. That’s right we are your hosts of that was us a rewatch podcast starting May 14th and continuing week after week you will be able to listen to our episodes wherever you get your podcasts and you’ll be able to watch our podcasts on the That was Us YouTube channel.”

[Full House rewatch]

“Andrea we are bringing back the milkman, the paperboy and evening TV.” “We’re excited to introduce How Rude Tanneritos: A Full House Rewatch Podcast.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

FULL HOUSE CAST MEMBERS ACTUALLY HAVE TWO REWATCH PODCASTS!

AND THEN THERE’S THE RINGER’S BILL SIMMONS WHO HOSTS A REWATCH PODCAST CALLED “THE REWATCHABLES.”

PEARSON SAYS THESE TRIPS DOWN MEMORY LANE MAKE UP ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR GENRES FOR IHEART.

[WILL PEARSON]

“I guess that was another thing when you think about what people are looking for in podcasting. You know, that that bit of escape or that entertainment from all that is stress relieving, looking back to times that we’re less stressful. You know, thinking about the nostalgia play in podcasting is a huge one.”

And so you know, being able to say you know what, I want to look back to 10 years ago when I was in love with the show One Tree Hill and to have Sophia Bush and the cast from One Tree Hill being able to revisit that show with something like Drama Queens, and so we’ve probably got, you know, 10 different shows in the sort of broader rewatch slash companion show category.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

SHAPO SAYS ADVERTISERS ARE ALSO LOOKING FOR WAYS TO BE PART OF THE PODCAST.

TAKE HYUNDAI IN THE REWATCH PODCAST “POD MEETS WORLD” WITH THE CAST OF THE 90S TGIF SITCOM BOY MEETS WORLD.

[Pod Meets World Ad]

“When it comes to Pod Meets World we’re synonymous with two things: watching our younger selves on a TV show from 30 years ago and loving Hyundai.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

HYUNDAI ALSO SPONSORING EPISODES OF THE SHOW WHERE THE CAST STAYED IN THE HOUSE DEPICTED ON THE SITCOM.

SHAPO SAYS NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN ANALYZING PODCAST CONTENT AND VIEWERSHIP ARE HELPING TO QUELL ADVERTISERS’ FEARS THAT THE PODCASTING WORLD IS THE WILD WILD WEST.

[MATT SHAPO]

“One of the terrific advancements we’ve seen over the last year or two is this incredible uptick in the usage of brand suitability and brand safety filtering in podcasting.

[Ted Danson]

“If you’re anything like me.”

[MATT SHAPO]

“As we continue to see advances in the way artificial intelligence is used to analyze podcast episode transcripts and not just understand in sort of a blunt keyword based way where there is safety to be found and where there is alignment to be fond for brand advertisers but also to really get into the sentiment and the true understanding of a podcast episode it opens up all sorts of contextually opportunities and chances for brands to do brand storytelling in these incredibly aligned ways.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

IN THE END – IT’S NOT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ADVERTISER AND THE SHOW THAT DRAWS THE PUBLIC IN  – BUT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE HOST AND THE LISTENER.

[MATT SHAPO]

“You have this extraordinary relationship between people who are producing podcast content and the people who are coming to consume it. That is the core bedrock reason that underlies all growth stories. That is the fundamental reason you will continue to see growth in this medium.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

THAT’S THE GOAL FOR RYAN ROBERTSON – TO CONTINUE TO DEVELOP THAT CONNECTION WITH HIS “WEAPONS AND WARFARE” VIEWERS AS HIS PODCAST COMMUNITY GROWS.

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

“One of the exciting things about being new is that we’re building that, we’re building that relationship with the audience…”

“We get the opportunity to build it new and build it fresh for a new product – there’s other people talking about war and military-type topics, but not in the way we’re doing it where we’re really trying to meet the masses.”

[BROCK KOLLER]

AND RYAN’S NOT SHY ABOUT JOINING IN WITH THAT UBIQUITOUS BUT USEFUL PODCASTER EXPRESSION

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

“I encourage everyone to like, subscribe and help us grow this thing.”

Business

46% of Americans are still paying off last summer’s credit card debt


July is the most happening travel month of the year. Americans jet off to beaches, national parks or theme parks, but nearly half are carrying more baggage than what is in their luggage.

According to WalletHub’s 2024 Credit Card Debt Survey, 46% of Americans are still paying down last summer’s credit card balance.

“And almost 25% of them reported being very stressed out about it, about their credit card debt in general,” WalletHub Editor Christie Matherne told Straight Arrow News. “And that’s probably because of this next stat, which is nearly half of people said that they carry debt on cards from everyday purchases, which can get really expensive.”

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With the average credit card interest rate of around 23%, people are quickly falling behind on payments. Credit card delinquencies are up across the country, though some cities are increasingly struggling more than others.

WalletHub said in Chula Vista, California, delinquencies are up 85% in the last year. The city that is best off is Des Moines, Iowa, where delinquencies are still up, though by a much smaller 19%.

“That’s bad news,” Matherne said. “That’s not great. That means people are late on their credit card bills, they can’t afford to pay minimum payments, and that lands you in further debt with further problems.”

Nearly 1 in 3 people told WalletHub they will have more credit card debt by the end of the year. 2024 already started with record-high credit card debt.

Although 80% of people told WalletHub that paying their credit card debt is a top priority, summer vacations can put a snag in those plans. Of the Americans traveling this summer, 36% told Bankrate they are willing to go into debt to pay for it.

“I do see the disconnect between that and charging your vacation on a credit card when you’re still paying off last summer’s debt,” Matherne said. “And it also might be worth saying that people need vacations.”

As much as people need a break, nearly 1 in 3 Americans told Bankrate they are skipping summer vacation this year because they cannot afford it.

Credit card debt is not just about personal finances. As more Americans carry higher credit card balances, that financial strain stretches beyond the home.

“A whole bunch of money is ending up in credit card companies’ hands and less of it is ending up in our communities,” Matherne explained.

That slows consumer spending, the most critical component of the U.S. economy. It drives two-thirds of the country’s economic growth. That is why credit card debt and delinquencies can be a harbinger of a downturn if things do not turn around. 

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Simone Del Rosario: It’s the most happening travel month of the year. Americans are jetting off to beaches, national parks or theme parks, but nearly half are carrying more baggage than what’s in their luggage. 

According to WalletHub’s 2024 Credit Card Debt Survey, 46% of Americans are still paying down last summer’s credit card balance. 

Christie Matherne: And almost 25% of them reported being very stressed out about it, about their credit card debt in general. And that’s probably because of this next stat, which is nearly half of people said that they carry debt on cards from everyday purchases, which can get really expensive.

Simone Del Rosario: With the average credit card interest rate of nearly 23%, people are quickly falling behind. 

Credit card delinquencies are up across the country, though some cities are increasingly struggling more than others. 

WalletHub says in Chula Vista, California, that’s just outside San Diego, delinquencies are up 85% just in the last year. The city that’s best off is Des Moines, Iowa, where delinquencies are still up, though by a much smaller 19%. 

Christie Matherne: That’s bad news. That’s not great. That means people are late on their credit card bills, they can’t afford to pay minimum payments, and that lands you in further debt with further problems.

Simone Del Rosario: Nearly 1 in 3 people tell WalletHub they’ll have more credit card debt by the end of the year, a year that already started with record-high credit card debt. 

And though 80% of people told WalletHub that paying their credit card debt is a top priority, summer vacations can put a snag in those plans.

Of the Americans traveling this summer, 36% told Bankrate they’re willing to go into debt to pay for it. 

Christie Matherne: I do see the disconnect between that and charging your vacation on a credit card when you’re still paying off last summer’s debt. And it also might be worth saying that people need vacations.

Simone Del Rosario: As much as people need a break, nearly 1 in 3 Americans told Bankrate they’re skipping summer vacation this year because they can’t afford it. 

Credit card debt is not just about personal finances. As more and more Americans carry higher and higher credit card balances, that financial strain stretches beyond the home. 

Christie Matherne: A whole bunch of money is ending up in credit card companies’ hands and less of it is ending up in our communities.

Simone Del Rosario: That slows consumer spending, the most critical component of the U.S. economy. It drives two-thirds of the country’s economic growth. 

Which is why credit card debt and delinquencies can be a harbinger of a downturn if things don’t turn around. 

I’m Simone Del Rosario for SAN. 

International

Paris 2024: Behind the Olympic spectacle lies a history of corruption


Every four years, billions of people across the globe tune into the Summer Olympics. The 2024 Games are set to be a spectacle, descending on Paris for the first time in 100 years.

But sometimes, scoring the biggest sporting event on the planet is rife with corruption. And the scandals don’t stop after the winning bid is announced. 

Olympic pride and bragging rights

In the United States, polls show the number of people who are extremely proud to be an American is at record lows. But through the Olympics, that sentiment changes. During the Tokyo Games in 2021, 63% of Americans said they had a “very positive” reaction to seeing the American flag.

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The reach goes beyond the traditional sports fan. Yes, the Olympics features the world championships in 300 different events, but moments are what make the games memorable.

The legends of athletes like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and Simone Biles are born during those two weeks and those legends will live on.

The Olympics also puts the spotlight on the host city and country. The world’s media focuses its cameras on the culture and history of nations that viewers may never have the opportunity to visit.

It’s the host city’s time to shine on a global stage. Paris is seizing that chance with a tradition-breaking opening ceremony. Instead of the pomp and circumstance in a world-class arena, Paris is opting for a parade of nations along the city’s famed Seine River. 

The Olympics is a biennial wonder that attracts millions of in-person spectators and many more through broadcast. But behind the scenes, this event can be rife with bribes and other shady deals.

Controversy and scandal have been part of the Olympics since the ancient Olympic Games in 776 B.C.

History of Olympic corruption

To understand Olympic corruption, you have to go back to its inception. Despite the tradition of swearing an oath to Zeus to play fair, the competition was founded on cheating.

As Greek mythology goes, Pelops won his bride’s hand by sabotaging the chariot of her father King Oenomaus before a race. The king died in the race and Pelops founded the Games to commemorate his victory.

The remnants of the ancient Games’ history with cheating are still visible today in Olympia, Greece. Pedestals that once supported bronze statues of Zeus can be found on the pathway to the entrance of the ancient stadium.

The Zanes, as they were called, were paid for by fines imposed on cheating Olympic athletes. The pedestals had the names of the cheaters inscribed, shaming them and warning other athletes to play fair. But though centuries have passed, some still need to be warned. 

Athletes cheating with performance-enhancing drugs, also known as doping, is a very real issue in the Olympics. But that specific type of controversy deserves its own deep dive. 

Bid rigging

Olympic corruption can start decades before the cauldron is lit at the opening ceremony. It’s called bid rigging and the Olympic version was a poorly kept secret before Salt Lake City’s scandal busted it wide open.

Salt Lake City tried and failed to secure the Olympics four times before winning the 2002 Winter Games. After the city’s fourth loss, to Nagano, Japan, for the 1998 Winter Games, the Salt Lake organizing committee changed its strategy. Tired of losing, officials took a page from Nagano’s book after learning Japanese officials spent as much as $14 million, or $32 million in today’s dollars, to land the Games. 

Nagano, at the time a little-known Japanese city, reportedly gave International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials the five-star treatment during the bidding process. Nagano’s bid committee hosted members in fancy hotels in Tokyo, Nagano and Kyoto. They also entertained them with geishas and helicopter rides. To cover up any corruption, they burned 10 large boxes of documents to incinerate the paper trail.  

When there’s money, there’s corruption.

Charlie Battle, Olympic bid consultant

“The Salt Lake City people realize that you had to keep a file on each IOC voting member,” Olympic historian David Wallechinsky told Straight Arrow News. “And then, you do whatever you could to get their vote.”

Wallechinsky fell in love with the Olympics as a kid when his father took him to the 1960 Rome Games. He became so intrigued with the event that he wrote “The Complete Book of the Olympics” and is one of the founding members of the International Society of Olympic Historians.

Wallechinsky said the way Salt Lake City secured the Games was some of the most overt bid rigging in history.

“There was an IOC member from Togo,” he said. “Togo doesn’t compete in the Winter Olympics. That didn’t matter, because the guy still voted. So they kept flying him out to Salt Lake City. Well, that wasn’t good enough, so they had to include a stopover in Paris so his wife could go shopping on the bid committee’s pocketbook. The whole thing was so ridiculous. But they got the Games and that was all they cared about.”

After investigators found out about the Salt Lake City scheme, the IOC expelled 10 members. The U.S. Department of Justice also brought bribery and fraud charges against the president and vice president of the Salt Lake City bid committee. Both officials resigned years before the games came to town. Those charges were dropped after the successful 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

The crackdown didn’t end allegations of bid rigging. In 2021, years after the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, Brazilian Olympic Committee President Carlos Arthur Nuzman was sentenced to 30 years in jail for crimes connected to buying votes to secure the Olympics. However, Nuzman is still free after a Brazilian federal court ruled the original judge didn’t have the legal competence to rule in the case. 

How to get the Olympics

While the honor of hosting an Olympics has driven some to risk jail time, scoring the global event isn’t always a corrupt process.

“Growing up as a child, I loved to watch the Olympics,” said Charlie Battle, an instrumental member of the team that brought the Olympics to Atlanta in 1996. “I believed in it. I bought into the whole [idea of] bringing the world together through sport.” 

Before Battle got involved with Atlanta’s Olympic bid, he was a municipal finance attorney in the city. He said when they started the bidding process, Atlanta was a very different city than it is today. 

“We were just in the ’80s, beginning to get international plane service,” he recalled. “But we call ourselves the world’s next great city.”

“Truth be known, when we started this, people wondered if we were going to have blackjack because they got us confused with Atlantic City, New Jersey,” he added.

Before U.S. city organizers can pitch to the IOC, they need to win over the national committee. After Atlanta beat out San Francisco, Nashville and Minneapolis for the U.S. bid, the committee needed to raise money to challenge other nations for the right to host. 

“The government doesn’t support the Olympics in this country,” Battle said. “There are a lot of constitutional provisions that prevent cities and counties from pledging money.”

“We couldn’t start building our stadium until we had a TV contract in hand,” Battle continued. “That was a bankable contract. And then when we won the U.S. designation, we were able to get some corporate support.”

Atlanta-based beverage behemoth Coca-Cola put up, at least, tens of millions of dollars to bring the games to their home turf, though they’d been a major Olympic sponsor for years. For the most part, the Atlanta Games was a privately-funded affair

But selling sponsorships was just a part of the process. Battle said they also had to sell the IOC on Atlanta’s event-hosting prowess. 

“There were 88 international members,” he explained. “We had to meet them, try to get them to come to Atlanta, go to see them. And basically, I ended up just on the road for the next couple of years.”

There wasn’t any bribery involved in bringing the Olympics to Atlanta. As far as Battle was concerned, all they needed was southern charm.

“That’s why I went on the road so much to go visit people, visit them in their homes, get to know their families, try to get them to come to Atlanta, show them that we’ve got the people they can trust,” he said. “It’s a marketing deal in the end, but from our perspective, making friends was the key.”

In 1990, the IOC officially awarded the games to Atlanta. At the time, the Atlantic Journal wrote, “Battle’s personal skills at lobbying IOC members were a key to Atlanta’s win.”

Six years later, Atlanta was celebrating a successful start of the games when a bomb detonated at Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park, killing one woman and injuring more than 100 others.

Security guard Richard Jewell was initially hailed as a hero for discovering the suspicious backpack and moving Olympic fans out of harm’s way, limiting the bomb’s destruction.

Within days, Jewell was wrongfully targeted as the prime suspect. It took years to catch the real bomber, Eric Rudolph, whom police arrested in 2003. Clint Eastwood directed a film focused on Jewell’s part of the story in the 2019 film, “Richard Jewell.”

Outside the tragedy and some problems with heat and traffic, the ’96 Olympics were mostly seen as a success. Despite that success, in 2013, when the U.S. Olympic Committee asked cities to put names in the ring for the 2024 Games, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who co-led the ’96 bid, said they shouldn’t make another push. 

“I don’t feel like going through it again, and I don’t imagine anyone from 1996 will,” Young told Atlanta Magazine at the time. “It’s a 10-year commitment.”

Still, Young said hosting the Olympics is good for any city, and Battle agreed that Atlanta benefited greatly from the Games. 

“There are always people who say, ‘Well, we shouldn’t spend this money, we ought to spend it on something else,’ and there’s no doubt about that,” Young said. “We should, but that isn’t the way the world works. We wouldn’t have had this money. They weren’t going to raise to revitalize [the city or] something else or help build housing, or this, that and the other.”

The winning bid had a lasting effect on the city, specifically on Atlanta’s downtown. 

“We built a downtown park in Atlanta called Centennial Olympic Park, which was on nobody’s radar at the time we started, but ended up being, really, the best legacy of our games,” Battle said.

In the three decades that followed the Atlanta Games, the city’s population doubled. Hosting the Olympics helped solidify Atlanta as a premier sporting event destination. Since 1996, it has hosted two Super Bowls, multiple NCAA Final Fours and the College Football National Championship.

The pitfalls of hosting

Not every Olympic host city secures a symbolic gold medal. One of the biggest pitfalls is the budget, which tends to be more aspirational than pegged in reality.

From 1960 to 2016, the Summer Games went over budget by an average of 213%, according to an analysis from the University of Oxford. The 2008 Beijing Olympics only went over budget by 2%, but the city had a significantly higher budget than the average host city. Meanwhile, the 1976 Montreal Games exceeded its budget by 720%.

For the Winter Olympics, the average cost overrun is 142%. The 1980 Lake Placid games went 324% over budget. 

Overages can wreck a hosting legacy. There’s no place more “Olympic” than Greece, but the country was in poor shape to handle its most recent hosting duties.

“The only reason Greece was able to put on the Games was the EU, but they borrowed too much money and went into financial [trouble] because they built all kinds of monuments that they didn’t need,” said Battle, who continued consulting on bids following the success of the Atlanta Games.

While some cities like Atlanta reap the benefits of hosting the Olympics, abandoned state-of-the-art venues often become an eyesore in others. 

“They build way too much stuff and they build stuff they don’t need and they waste a lot of money,” Battle said.

Atlanta transformed its Olympic track-and-field stadium into Turner Field shortly after the Olympics. The facility became the home of the MLB’s Atlanta Braves for two decades. 

Because issues like budget and abandoned facilities continue to come up with each event, the IOC is taking steps to stop it from being a regular part of future Olympic stories.

“What the IOC has done is they’ve introduced a system where you have to — in advance, before you’re even allowed to bid — meet a certain criteria of where you’re going to get the money; what are the venues that are going to be built; the environmental aspects; sustainability,” Wallechinsky told SAN. 

Post-bid corruption

For controversy-laden Olympics, the opportunity for bribery doesn’t stop after a city has been named as the host. 

The 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia, cost an estimated $55 billion. With all of that money to spend, contracts to support hosting the Games were highly coveted. 

“When there’s money, there’s corruption,” Battle said.

A major Sochi beneficiary was Arkady Rotenberg, who Bloomberg described as “the boyhood friend and former judo partner of black-belt President Vladimir Putin.” The publication counted at least 21 contracts awarded to Rotenberg worth more than $7 billion, which totals more than some entire Olympic budgets. 

The contracts ranged from a share of the transportation system linking Sochi to ski resorts to a highway along the Black Sea and a $387 million media center. 

After the Sochi Games, Putin also quietly handed out medals to his billionaire friends who invested in the Games. 

There is a lot of money involved in putting on the Olympics. Even as the IOC tries to clean up the process, the last Summer Olympics in Tokyo faced scandal. 

“There were bribes: TV rights bribes, all sorts of bribes, which sponsor would get the rights to this or that,” Wallechinsky said of the Tokyo bribery scandal. 

Advertising giant Dentsu, five other companies and seven individuals are charged with colluding in assigning contracts for the Tokyo Games. Organizers also faced allegations that they may have secured the Games in a less-than-honest fashion. But as the world prepares for the next summer spectacle, the most recent is still playing out in Japanese courts. 

Paris is in the thick of preparing to host the games. But in October of last year, officials raided the office of the Paris Olympic Committee. A source told Reuters at the time that the raid was part of an investigation into alleged favoritism for some awarded contracts. 

IOC’s rule change

While the IOC cleaned house over bid rigging corruption, it has less control over what happens after awarding the games. Paris will be the first Olympics under the IOC’s new anti-corruption clause. 

“What we’ve seen now is a real change,” Wallechinsky said. “The IOC under Thomas Bach, who’s the president of the IOC, realized this is not good. We can’t have another Sochi situation, we can’t have another Rio situation.

“So when they got really good bids for the 2024 Summer Olympics from both Paris and Los Angeles, they went, ‘Wait a minute, let’s not pit these people against each other. Let’s give them each an Olympics.'”

Instead of a long, drawn-out bidding process for the Summer and Winter Olympics, which has historically produced corruption, two IOC panels are permanently open to talks with any city that could host the games. These panels can also approach prospective cities they think might be the right fit to host the Olympics. 

The idea of eliminating the bidding process altogether and using a handful of rotating sites has come up, but it didn’t gain much traction. Still, cities that have hosted successful games could get multiple chances. 

“Salt Lake City is going to get the Winter Olympics again,” Wallechinsky said. “But in a more honest way.”

Salt Lake’s path to 2002 might have been burned by bribery and budget overages, but the city turned it around when Mitt Romney took the reins. The 2002 Winter Games turned a profit when all was said and done and turned Romney into a household name. After snubbing him in 1994, Massachusetts voters elected him to be their governor in 2002 and the rest is history.

Though the Salt Lake City scandal forever tarnished IOC’s history, it’s now the front-runner for the 2034 Winter Games. 

Paris scrutiny

Aside from the ongoing investigation into the Paris Organizing Committee, Wallechinsky — who splits his time between the south of France and the U.S. — said there are other hosting concerns.

“There have been some terrible terrorist attacks in France,” he said. “They’ve come up with this opening ceremony, which is going to be in public with hundreds of thousands of people.”

It’s an Olympic first: An opening ceremony outside of a stadium. The Paris pomp and circumstance will take place along the Seine. While it will make for an amazing spectacle, security is top of mind. 

“The challenge that the French are facing is not just protecting the Olympic venues, but the entire city and to a certain extent the rest of the country as well, all at the same time,” Wallechinsky said.

But still, he said there isn’t a lot a city can do to avoid scrutiny. 

“I always told people from host cities, ‘Everybody’s going to criticize you before the Games,'” Wallechinsky said. “Because as members of the media, if we say, ‘Oh, this is going really well,’ nobody’s going to follow that. They don’t want to read that. It’s not click-friendly.

“And so we’re always looking for something that’s wrong. That’s going to be the story. And then when the competition starts, everybody forgets about that unless it’s really serious.”

While the bombing at Atlanta’s Centennial Park shook the city, Americans still remember the Magnificent Seven taking home gold, or Michael Johnson breaking the 200-meter world record that stood until Usain Bolt burst onto the scene. And that’s why people like Charlie Battle still believe in the Games, despite its flaws.

“I still believe that good athletic competition and good athletic stories can be inspirational to young people,” Battle shared.

The 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games kicks off with the opening ceremony on July 26 and runs through Aug. 11. 

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Simone Del Rosario:

Every four years billions of people worldwide tune in to the Summer Olympics, and the vast appeal stretches far beyond sports.

While polls show the number of people who are extremely proud to be an American is at record lows, the Olympics have a way of turning that around. During the Tokyo games, 63 percent of Americans said they had a “very positive” reaction when they saw the stars and stripes.

No matter where you live on the planet, the Olympics drum up profound memories. I’ll still tear up to this day thinking about Muhammad Ali fighting through Parkinson’s to light the cauldron at the ’96 Atlanta Olympics…36 years after he won the gold in Rome, only to throw the medal into a river after facing racism when he came home. Even as a child, I knew that was a moment.

But the one that still gives me chills was watching Kerri Strug stick the landing on her vault after hurting her ankle, clinching gold for Team USA, the Magnificent Seven.

Sure, we watch the Olympics to see excellence and world competition in 300 different events. It’s where GOATs are born. Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles. Of course, your list of superstars will be different depending on where you live.

But the Olympics also show off some of the world’s greatest cities. For over two weeks we get to learn about the culture and history of faraway nations. The opening ceremony in Rio resurfaced a century-old debate that Brazil’s Alberto Santos-Dumont was the first human to fly, not the Wright Brothers. Watching events like the triathlon bring you right into the city, while the Paris opening ceremony will take place on the city’s famed Seine river.

It’s easy to take for granted a production that miraculously beams into our homes. But well before the starter pistol fires, there is so much that goes into a city scoring the Olympics and then pulling off an event of global proportions that attracts millions of visitors. It might surprise you to hear that both cases can be rife with bribes and other shady deals. Or maybe it won’t.

Controversy has been part of the Olympics since the ancient games in 776 B.C.

The Olympic Games were literally founded on cheating, despite the longstanding tradition of swearing an oath to Zeus to play fair.

As the Greek myth goes, Pelops won his bride’s hand by sabotaging her father King Oenomaus’ chariot before a race. The king died in the race and Pelops founded the Games to commemorate his victory.

Stroll toward the Ancient Games stadium in Olympia, the pathway is littered with what’s left of the Zanes. These pedestals once supported bronze statues of Zeus, paid for by fines imposed on cheating Olympic athletes. The pedestals had the offenses inscribed, to warn other athletes not to cheat. Centuries later, they still need to be warned.

News Coverage:

“New revelations about an elaborate scheme of alleged doping at the 2014 Winter Olympics.”

“Russia received a 4 year ban for doping from the World Anti-Doping Agency.”

Simone Del Rosario:

But it’s not just athletes foiling fair play.

In the modern Olympic era, misconduct can happen years before athletes even qualify for the Games.

News Coverage:

“It’s the Olympic bribery scandal in Salt Lake City. There are allegations the city won the Winter Games for the year 2002 by bribing some members of the International Olympic Committee.”

“Brazilian police have arrested the head of the national Olympic committee, Carlos Arthur Nuzman in a new phase of the so-called unfair play investigation.”

Simone Del Rosario:

Welcome to the world of bid-rigging.

David Wallechinsky:

You started to get real bidding corruption maybe in the ’60s…

Things got worse and worse. When you talk, It finally blew up in the bidding for the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

Simone Del Rosario:

Olympic Historian David Wallechinsky says this corruption scandal was so ridiculous, it was almost humorous. All told, the bribery scandal surrounding Salt Lake City’s 2002 bid is the stuff of legend.

Olympic corruption was a poorly kept secret, but Salt Lake’s really the first time it all publicly came to light. Since then, the stain on the International Olympic Committee has been hard to scrub out.

Here’s a bit of important context: Salt Lake City tried and failed to get the Olympics four times before this happened. So this whole saga started after they lost out – for the fourth time – on the ’98 Olympics to Nagano, Japan.

Salt Lake’s organizing committee later learned that Japanese officials spent as much as $14 million – $32 mil in today’s dollars – to land the games.

Little-known Nagano had reportedly given IOC officials the first-class treatment. The bid committee hosted them in ritzy digs in Tokyo, Nagano and Kyoto. They entertained IOC members with geishas and helicopter rides. And to cover up any bribery, they burned 10 large boxes of documents, incinerating the paper trail.

Instead of licking their wounds from losing out – again – Salt Lake City took notes.

David Wallechinsky:

The Salt Lake City people realize that you you had to keep a file on each IOC voting member. And then, you know, do whatever you could to get their vote. And so there was one case in particular, caught my attention, where there was an IOC member from Togo. Well, Togo doesn’t compete in the Winter Olympics. That didn’t matter, because the guy still voted. So they kept flying him out to Salt Lake City. Well, that wasn’t good enough. So they had to include the stopover in Paris so his wife could go shopping on the bid committee’s pocketbook. It’s just the whole thing was so ridiculous. But they got the games, and that was all they cared about.

Simone Del Rosario:

Some might say Salt Lake City just played by IOC’s rules. If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying?

But the revelations broke bid-rigging corruption wide open. In response to investigations, the IOC expelled 10 members.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department brought bribery and fraud charges against the president and VP of Salt Lake City’s bid committee, who both resigned years before the games came to town. The charges were dropped a year after SLC’s successful run as host city.

But if you think that was the end of IOC and bid-rigging corruption, let me direct you to the 2016 Rio Games. In 2021, Brazilian Olympic Committee President Carlos Arthur Nuzman was sentenced to 30 years in jail for crimes connected to buying votes.

But he’s still a free man after a federal court ruled the judge didn’t have the legal competence to rule on the case.

Does winning an Olympic bid take a Faustian bargain? It doesn’t have to.

Charlie Battle:

I always loved the Olympics. Growing up as a child, I loved to watch the Olympics, I was fascinated by that. I believed in it.”

Simone Del Rosario:

Meet Charlie Battle.

Charlie Battle:

“I bought into the whole, bringing the world together through sport.”

Simone Del Rosario:

The Atlanta lawyer was in public finance before playing a key role in bringing the Games – and honor – to the ATL.

Charlie Battle:

We were just in the ’80s, beginning to get international plane service. But we call ourselves the world’s next great city.

Simone Del Rosario:

Atlanta’s jockeying for the Olympics came when the mid-size city was just a blip on the global map.

Charlie Battle:

Truth be known. When we started this, people wondered if we were going to have blackjack because they thought maybe they got us confused with Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Simone Del Rosario:

But before organizers could start lobbying IOC members, Atlanta needed to win the USA crown. After beating out San Francisco, Nashville, and Minneapolis came the unenviable task of raising money to challenge international bids.

Charlie Battle:

The government doesn’t support the Olympics in this country. And it’s, you know, there are a lot of constitutional provisions that prevent cities and counties from pledging money.

We couldn’t start building our stadium until we had a TV contract in hand. That was a bankable contract.

And then when we won the US designation, we were able to get some, you know, corporate support, and we kind of kept on keeping on.

Simone Del Rosario:

The plan went down as smooth as ice-cold Coca-Cola in the hot Atlanta summer.

The Atlanta-based beverage behemoth put up tens of millions – at least – to bring the games to their home turf, though they’d long been an Olympic sponsor. Atlanta’s Olympic promise was a privately-funded affair.

But Battle says they didn’t just have to sell sponsorships, they had to sell the IOC on the city.

Charlie Battle:

there were 88 international members, we had to meet them, try to get them to come to Atlanta, go to see them. And basically, I ended up just on the road for the next couple of years.

Simone Del Rosario:

And who needs bribery when you have Charlie Battle in your corner? He says he won the IOC over with good ol’ fashioned Southern hospitality.

Charlie Battle:
that’s why I went on the road so much is to go visit people, visit them in their homes, get to know their families, try to get them to come to Atlanta, show them that we’ve got the people they can trust.

it’s a marketing deal in the end, but from our perspective, making friends was the key.

News Coverage:

“The International Olympic Committee has awarded the 1996 Olympic games to the city of Atlanta.”

Simone Del Rosario:

The city exploded in victory when the Games were announced in 1990.

Battle was quoted on the front page of the Atlantic Journal saying he was stunned, excited, elated, shell shocked.

Six years later, the host city was celebrating a wildly successful start to the games when fear struck. A bomb detonated at Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park, killing one woman and injuring more than 100 others.

Security guard Richard Jewell was initially hailed a hero for discovering the suspicious backpack and moving Olympic fans out of harm’s way. The bombing could have been much more destructive. But within days, Jewell was wrongfully targeted as the prime suspect. It took years to catch the real bomber, Eric Rudolph, whom police arrested in 2003.

Clint Eastwood captured Jewell’s part of the story in the 2019 movie, “Richard Jewell.”

Where was I?

Outside of the tragedy – and the traffic – and the heat – the ’96 Games was mostly seen as a success.

But in 2013, when the U.S. Olympic Committee asked cities to put their names in the ring for the 2024 Games, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who co-led Atlanta’s ’96 bid efforts, said the city shouldn’t go for it.

Plain and simple, he said, “I don’t feel like going through it again, and I don’t imagine anyone from 1996 will. It’s a 10-year commitment.”

But he did say hosting the Olympics is good for any city. Battle says Atlanta especially benefited greatly from the Games.

Charlie Battle:

Without question. Absolutely. Yes.

Charlie Battle:

There are always people who say, Well, we shouldn’t spend this money, we ought to spend it on something else. And there’s no doubt about that. We should, but that isn’t the way the world works, you know, just because we wouldn’t have had this money, you know, what we raised, they weren’t going to raise to revitalize, you know, something else, or help build housing or this that and the other.

Simone Del Rosario:

Battle says winning the Olympic bid turned the wheels on downtown development.

Charlie Battle:

We built a downtown park in Atlanta called Centennial Olympic Park, which was on nobody’s radar at the time we started, but ended up being really the best legacy of our games.

Simone Del Rosario:

In the three decades following the games, Atlanta’s population doubled. And the Olympics helped solidify the ATL as a premier sporting event destination. They’ve since hosted two Super Bowls, multiple Final Fours and the College Football National Championship.

Charlie Battle:

We were fortunate to get this and we had a tremendously positive impact.

Simone Del Rosario:

But not every host city scores gold. With the Olympics, budgets seem to be more of a false promise. From 1960-2016, Summer Games went over budget by an average of 213%. The 2008 Beijing Games supposedly went over just 2%, but they also budgeted higher than average and you can insert your own snide comment on government control over economic data. The 1976 Montreal Games had the biggest busted budget, exceeding it by 720%.

For the Winter Olympics, the average overrun is 142% with the 1980 Lake Placid Games going 324% over budget.

And not everyone’s fit to foot the bill.

Charlie Battle:

The only reason Greece was able to put on the games was the EU, but they borrowed too much money and went into financial (trouble) because they built all kinds of monuments that they didn’t need.

Simone Del Rosario:

Abandoned state-of-the-art facilities often become an eyesore on Olympic legacies and city spending.

Charlie Battle:

They build way too much stuff, and they build stuff they don’t need, and they waste a lot of money. And one of the things we always were proud of is that we really didn’t do that.

Simone Del Rosario:

In Atlanta, the track-and-field stadium transformed into Turner Field in less than a year, home of the MLB’s Atlanta Braves for two decades.

Overbudget and overdeveloped are just two reputational hazards the IOC is trying to overhaul.

David Wallechinsky:

Now it’s not as bad as it was. Because what the IOC has done is they’ve introduced a system where you have to, in advance, before you’re even allowed to bid, you have to meet a certain criteria of where you’re going to get the money, what are the venues that are going to be built. The environmental aspects, sustainability…

Simone Del Rosario:

But what about when the corruption comes in after a city wins the bid?

News Coverage:

“While Sochi is better known for its palm trees than snow, there is a blizzard of allegations of unsavory ties to organized crime figures, official corruption…”

“It’s just days until the Winter Olympic games open in Sochi. They’re already the most unlikely, and perhaps controversial games ever, they’re certainly the most expensive ever.”

Simone Del Rosario:

I can always count on Russia to help me make a point.

Enter the 2014 Games in Sochi, a $55 billion affair.

David Wallechinsky:

This was totally corrupt. Vladimir Putin gave 27 contracts to a friend of his.

Simone Del Rosario:

Well isn’t that nice. Bloomberg describes Arkady Rotenberg as “the boyhood friend and former judo partner of black-belt President Vladimir Putin.” Bloomberg counts at least 21 contracts worth more than $7 billion – which by the way – is more than some entire Olympic budgets.

The contracts ranged from a share of the transportation system linking Sochi to ski resorts, a highway along the Black Sea, and a $387 million media center.

I’ve been in quite a few media centers in my day. I can’t say I ever felt like someone spent hundreds of millions of dollars on it. I hope it came with a good spread.

After the fact, Putin also quietly handed out medals to his billionaire friends who invested in the games.

Charlie Battle:

When there’s money, there’s corruption.

Simone Del Rosario:

And let’s be very clear, there is a ton of money involved in the Olympics.

News Coverage:

“There have been a series of scandals and controversies from the moment, actually, that Tokyo won the bid for the summer games.”

“Japan’s Fair Trade Commission has filed criminal complaints against the big advertising company Dentsu and 5 other ad firms over alleged bid rigging for contracts on Tokyo 2020.”

David Wallechinsky:

There were bribes, TV, TV rights, bribes, all sorts of bribes, which sponsor would get the rights to this or that.

Simone Del Rosario:

Advertising giant Dentsu, five other companies and seven individuals are charged with colluding in assigning contracts for the Tokyo Games.

David Wallechinsky:

Afterwards is really corrupt.

Simone Del Rosario:

But Tokyo is what we call a 1-2 punch, because the committee also faced allegations of bribing IOC members to win the games.

While Tokyo’s corruption scandal still plays out in the courts, Paris is pilng on before the games even begin.

Officials raided organizers’ offices back in October. A judicial source told Reuters the raid is part of an investigation into alleged favoritism for several awarded contracts.

While heads rolled over internal bid-rigging corruption, the IOC has less control over what happens after bids are awarded. Paris will be the first Games held under the IOC’s new anti-corruption clause.

David Wallechinsky:

What we’ve seen now is a real change. Because the IOC under Thomas Bach, who’s the president of the IOC, they realize this is not good, we can’t have another Sochi situation, we can’t have another Rio situation.

So when they got really good bids, for the 2024 Summer Olympics from both Paris and Los Angeles, they went, Wait a minute, let’s not pit these people against each other. Let’s give them each an Olympics.

Simone Del Rosario:

Now, instead of a drawn-out bidding process for each Summer and Winter Olympics – one that has historically lent itself to corruption – two IOC panels are permanently open to talks with any cities open to hosting. And these panels can also make the first move and approach cities they think might be the right fit.

They’ve even floated rotating sites, though it’s not a really popular proposal.

But cities that have successfully hosted could get multiple chances.

David Wallechinsky:

Salt Lake City is going to get the Winter Olympics again. But in a more honest way.

Simone Del Rosario:

Salt Lake’s path to 2002 might have been burned by bribery and budget overages, but the city did a 180 when Mitt Romney took the reins. Yes, that Mitt Romney. The 2002 Winter Games turned a profit when all was said and done and turned Romney into the household name you know today. After snubbing him in ’94, Massachusetts voters elected him to be their governor in 2002 and the rest is history.

And though the Salt Lake City scandal forever tarnished IOC’s history, it’s now the frontrunner for the 2034 Games.

But back to this decade.

Aside from ongoing investigations into the Paris Olympic organizers, Wallechinsky, who splits his time between the south of France and the U.S., says there are other things to watch.

David Wallechinsky:

There have been some terrible terrorist attacks in France, they’ve come up with this opening ceremony, which is going to be in public with hundreds of 1000s of people.

Simone Del Rosario:

It’s an Olympic first, an opening ceremony outside of a stadium. The Paris pomp and circumstance will take place along the Seine. And while it will make for an amazing spectacle, security is top of mind.

David Wallechinsky:

The challenge that the French are facing is not just protecting the Olympic venues, but the entire city and to a certain extent the rest of the country as well, all at the same time.

Simone Del Rosario:

It’s a risk the city hopes will pay off with the entire world watching. Then again, anything you do while hosting the Olympics brings that global scrutiny.

David Wallechinsky:

I always told people from host cities, everybody’s going to criticize you before the games, because as members of the media, if we say, Oh, this is going really well, nobody’s going to follow that. They don’t want to read that. It’s not click friendly. And so we’re always looking for something that’s wrong. And you know, that’s going to be the story. And then when the competition starts, everybody forgets about that unless it’s really serious.

Simone Del Rosario:

And that’s generally the case. While the bombing at Atlanta’s Centennial Park shook the city, we still remember the Magnificent Seven taking home the gold, or Michael Johnson breaking the 200 meter world record that stood until Usain Bolt burst onto the scene.

And that’s why people like Charlie Battle still believe in the Games, despite its flaws.

Charlie Battle:

I think it’s important, I think the Olympic movement is important. I think it’s, you know, I still believe in hopefully that good athletic competition and good athletic stories can can, you know, be inspirational to young people.

Simone Del Rosario:

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