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Why Derrick Henry’s supporting cast matters more in 2026
Baltimore must strengthen Derrick Henry’s supporting cast to preserve the veteran running back’s explosiveness throughout 2026.
Dana White decries UFC broadcast production again: ‘Brutal’
UFC CEO Dana White continues to publicly criticize the production quality of his promotion’s broadcasts. Earlier this month, following UFC 329, White took aim at his producers after another high-profile incident of misidentifying a celebrity attending the event. While showing an image of Shakur Stevenson, a boxer who was recently signed to the boxing promotion…
Flutter Entertainment to Announce Second Quarter 2026 Update on August 5
Flutter Entertainment will announce its Q2 2026 results on August 5, with a management conference call to follow.Quiver AI SummaryFlutter Entertainment has announced that it will release its second quarter 2026 financial update on August 5, 2026, at 7:00 a.m. EDT. The results will be available on its website, and management will hold a conference call at 8:30 a.m. EDT to discuss the results and answer questions, accessible via both webcast and te
You think U.S. politics have never been worse? It has, says this Utah professor and podcaster.
Rabic partisanship and fake news are not new ideas in America, a Utah Valley University professor argues. He explains why in his new book.
Nick Woltemade told he's free to leave Newcastle on loan
Newcastle United are planning to send Nick Woltemade out on loan for the 2026/27 season, according to The Athletic.The Premier League club have already informed the German forward of their decision, w...
Oil price slides as US and Iran pause fire; cancer treatments help AstraZeneca beat profit forecasts
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
Politics Unplugged Podcast: Recapping the primary with Chuck Coughlin
Independent consultant Chuck Coughlin gives us a brutally honest breakdown of the primary elections and why some of the candidates shouldn’t have run in the first place. Then Dennis and Colin talk about the current state of the Suns.
After OWI arrest, Tony Romo withdraws from Texas State Open
Tony Romo has yet to say anything publicly since Thursday's arrest in Milwaukee for suspicion of operating while intoxicated.
Comic-Con 2026: All the movie and TV announcements you need to know
San Diego Comic-Con delivered a packed weekend of casting reveals and first-look trailers.
Who are Newcastle United (Part Two)?
This has been a difficult week, with thoughts very much dwelling on a pair of Newcastle United heroes. The loss of Kevin Keegan hit me like a ton of bricks.
‘The Odyssey’ earns $87M in its second weekend, Christopher Nolan’s best second weekend yet
“The Odyssey” continues to captivate audiences in its second weekend, raking in $87 million in North American theaters. This marks a modest 30% drop from its opening weekend, making it
Robert Downey Jr. ‘nerded out’ over OG X-Men returning for ‘Doomsday’
The ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ cast joined EW following Marvel’s Comic-Con panel on Saturday, where Robert Downey Jr. raved about original X-Men stars Kelsey Grammer and Rebecca Romijn returning as Beast and Mystique, respectively.
Massive forest fires reignite political tensions in Spain
The wildfires raging in Madrid, Ávila, Toledo and Castellon are fueling a battle over disaster preparedness — and forcing bitter political rivals to work together.
Fertitta Entertainment counsel doubts Texas will legalize gaming, expects SCOTUS to favor state regulation
The general counsel and executive vice president of Houston-based Fertitta Entertainment cast doubt on Texas getting legalized gaming anytime soon and told Neva
Winner and Loser of the Week in Florida politics
Fabián Basabe's support begins to crumble, Kathy Castor gains momentum, and is Cory Mills facing a federal probe?
Am I a chicken-shop lefty? Here’s what a French fast food row taught me about politics
Feathers are flying over the halal chicken chain Master Poulet opening a branch in gentrified Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine – it’s an issue of wealth and class we know only too well, says writer and podcaster Coco Khan
Letitia Wright reacts to ‘Black Panther 3’ bombshell and passing the mantle to David Jonsson’s T’Challa
Letitia Wright says she’s ‘still living in’ the ‘beautiful’ news of David Jonsson’s casting as T’Challa in ‘Black Panther 3,’ which was announced during Marvel’s action-packed Comic-Con panel.
Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department urges caution during extreme heat warning
The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department said that cooling centers hours will be extended due to the heat.
Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department urges caution during extreme heat warning
The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department said that cooling centers hours will be extended due to the heat.
The unexpected cost of tariffs for some small business owners
When President Trump invokes tariffs - he promises they’ll benefit Americans. But the experience of some small business owners tells a different story. For this week's Reporter's Notebook, Host Debbie Elliott speaks with NPR Business Correspondent Alina Selyukh about what she learned about the unexpected costs small businesses are shouldering.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.This episode was produced by Gabriel Sanchez. Our director is Erika Ryan.It was edited by Emily Kopp and Adam Raney.Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning.
Duke-Michigan rematch scrapped over broadcast rights
The rematch was slated for Dec. 21 and was supposed to be streamed on Amazon Prime as part of Duke's three-game deal.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Will Run At 30fps On Switch
Konami's 2D action-exploration game arrives this October
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse gets first Nintendo Switch screenshots, frame rate confirmed
The first Nintendo Switch screenshots for Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse are in, and depending on who you ask, this version of the game might be looking a little rough. Pre-orders for the title started on the Nintendo eShop this week. That’s brought us six different images to look at, and this is actually the first time we’re seeing the Nintendo Switch...
Picking up a hidden gem card, looking on the upside of shutdowns, a Hyatt safety tip and more (Week in Review)
After recording this week’s podcast episode, I got online to see if I could chat with a representative and product change my US Bank Altitude Go Card (which was originally a Club Carlson Visa back in the day) to a US Bank Altitude Connect Card. Unfortunately, I had a really hard time finding the ability […]
‘E pluribus unum’ is not a slogan. It’s a choice
Like two sides of a coin imprinted with the nation’s motto, “e pluribus unum” — out of many, one — America’s political factions are cast in opposition, but they are intrinsically bound together as parts of a larger whole. From the beginning, the United States has aspired to build a more perfect union. When our founders […]
In Rush to Track Down Air Force One Leaks, DOJ Reversed Its Own Process
A judge’s remarks on subpoenas to reporters cast attention on two administration officials under consideration for powerful cabinet posts, Todd Blanche and Jay Clayton.
Arkansas basketball Bahamas games to be streamed by FloSports
FloSports is a monthly subscription service that can be canceled after the four games. Razorbacks radio broadcaster and former assistant coach Matt Zimmerman will be on the call alongside Chris Sylvester.
Wisconsin voters sue to allow for vote to count if absentee ballot is late
A new lawsuit argues that voters in swing state Wisconsin whose absentee ballots haven’t arrived by Election Day should be allowed to cast provisional ballots at the polls to ensure their vote is counted
‘Big Brother,’ ‘Drag Race’ star apologizes to Ryan Murphy on air over declined role
‘Big Brother’ houseguest Jason De Puy, also known as ‘Drag Race’ star Salina EsTitties, hilariously apologized to Ryan Murphy on the air over declining role: ‘Cast me, I’m sorry!’
Interviews Available from 2026 OVC Football Media Day Presented by Shaw Sports Turf
CHARLESTON - Last week, the Ohio Valley Football Conference hosted their 2026 Football Media Day presented by Shaw Sports Turf. During the day, the Buccaneers' Head Coach and student-athletes spent time speaking with members of the media previewing the upcoming 2026 season. There is an available copy of one of the interviews with each of representatives from Charleston Southern on the department's YouTube page which can be found at the links on this page. Additionally, a link to the ESPN+ broadcast with the segment featuring Charleston Southern is attached here as well.
Rice materials science triumphs with pair of Telly Awards
Rice is a double winner in the 47th annual Telly Awards, which honor excellence in video and television. The university won a silver Telly in the Education and Discovery category for a social media series titled “Discovering Materials Science and Engineering: Engineering Solutions for a Changing World,” which followed freshmen as they were introduced to how materials shape the world in a materials science and nanoengineering course of the same name. Additionally, Rice won a bronze Telly in the Educational Institution category for a nonbroadcast campaign titled “RAMI Undergraduate Research Fellows at Rice University,” which showcases cutting-edge undergraduate research.
AmEx raises 2026 revenue growth forecast as affluent cardholders keep spending
American Express increased its full-year revenue growth forecast and beat Wall Street expectations for second-quarter profit on Friday as its affluent customers continued to swipe their cards for travel and dining despite lingering economic uncertainty.
Lancaster County public sales: July 24, 2026
Kline, Kreider & Good Auctioneers, of Bowmansville, conducted a public auction of real estate July 13 for Marlin H. Fox at 50, 52 and 52-A Gross St., Ephrata. A three-unit
Microsoft pressures LG into killing unwanted McAfee ads
LG says it isn’t to blame, however.
Rep. Smucker again supports passage of SAVE America voter ID requirements
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker on Wednesday joined House Republicans to push forward a package of GOP priorities including a nationwide mandate for voter identification at the polls backed by President
Creator economy platform Patreon cuts 20% of staff in new layoffs
Patreon, which helps creators like YouTubers and podcasters make money, is laying off staff. The creator economy company said it needs to trim costs.
DAS Companies sells West Donegal Twp. warehouse for $15.1M
Truck stop supply distributor DAS Companies Inc. has sold a warehouse in the West Donegal Township industrial park where it unloaded a larger building in February 2025 during a company
Wisconsin absentee voters seek court ruling allowing them to cast new ballots
Three voters supported by the Wisconsin Democratic Party have filed a lawsuit against the state elections commission, seeking a ruling that would allow for voters who have already returned their absentee ballots to void those and request a new one
AUDIO: Small Business Rundown Highlights Why BOI Remains a Major Threat to Small Businesses
Podcast episode features NFIB Member Nancy Marr, U.S. Rep. Brad Finstad, and NFIB’s Josh McLeod explaining what to know about Beneficial Ownership reporting
ICYMI: Minnesota Small Business Owner Joins NFIB’s Small Business Rundown
Rep. Brad Finstad of Minnesota joined the Small Business Rundown to discuss repealing Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting
Raiders Ex-Coach Will Broadcast Preseason Game In Tampa
Former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden has been angling for an announcing gig, and now he has one.
Comic-Con 2026 Panels, Activations, Cosplay & Convention Floor
San Diego Comic-Con's features Hall H panels, exclusive previews, world premieres and cast appearances from film, TV and gaming
Arts & Entertainment Agenda, July 25 to 30
‘Living Lines: Contemporary Native Voices,’ exhibition on view Casterline|Goodman Gallery is hosting “Living Lines: Contemporary Native Voices,” which opened July 20 at 611 E. Cooper Ave. It’s a landmark group exhibition featuring works by Cara...
The Morning Show heads off into the night.
Apple announced that one of its biggest early hits will be coming back for a fifth and final season in 2027. The Morning Show premiered alongside Apple TV as one of its prestige plays, with a notably star-studded cast. The news comes the same day Apple announced a new dating series. [Image: https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/072226_The_Morning_Show_Fifth_Final_Season_Announcement_Big_Image_02.jpg?quality=90&strip=all]
Columbia\'s Fourth of July fireworks rescheduled; here\'s when
After Fourth of July storms caused widespread damage across Lancaster County, many event organizers had to decide whether to cancel or postpone their fireworks celebrations.
Critics Choice Association launches Creator Awards to honor podcasters, streamers, and digital storytellers
The new ceremony will celebrate podcasters, digital series, and social creators, with the first winners revealed in April 2027.
CNN, Variety expand partnership for entertainment programming
CNN and Variety are expanding their relationship through a long-term partnership covering entertainment programming, live ... Read More
Today’s podcast episode: CFPB’s Revised Section 1071 Rule: What Lenders Need to Know About the New Small Business Lending Reporting Requirements
In today’s episode of the Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast, we are pleased to present an audio version of the webinar we conducted on May 27, 2026
Ford picks Apple Maps for its next EV platform and updated BlueCruise
Ford and Apple are teaming up.
How Fanatics Fest became the place for sports' biggest stars to be seen (and heard)
The four-day convention is now home to dozens of athlete podcasts. And the competition to be there will only grow.
Wisconsin Athletics partners with Good Karma Brands for radio broadcast rights in Milwaukee area
Wisconsin Athletics and its exclusive multimedia rights holder, Learfield's Badger Sports Properties, announced today that Good Karma Brands has entered into...
Comcast earnings highlight NBCUniversal strength ahead of planned split
Comcast said earlier this year it would split the cable businesses from the media business, creating two separate publicly traded companies.
Charli XCX moves beyond ‘Brat’ and nine more things you must hear this week
Britain's Charli XCX starts a new sonic era with "Music, Fashion, Film," leading a new releases week that includes titles from Shania Twain, O.A.R. the Strokes, Cypress Hill, Brantley Gilbert and more, a posthumous set from the Mavericks' Raul Malo and a Tony Award-winning musical's cast album.
New Jersey voter glitch delivers Republicans a gift in elections fightNJ Spotlight News
Trump's House allies renew call to pass legislation that critics say would block millions of people from casting ballots
USA Sports reveals broadcast crew, plan to cover final 14 races and The Chase
USA Sports detailed its branding and broadcast plan as it gears up to present the final 14 races of the 2026 Cup Series season.
Historic store in Lancaster to close after nearly 100 years in business
Historic store in Lancaster to close after nearly 100 years in business
Airplane seats really are getting smaller
And why we should all be grateful for airplane mode.
Airplane seats really are getting smaller
And why we should all be grateful for airplane mode.
Blazers make sweeping cuts to broadcast team under Tom Dundon
The Portland Trail Blazers’ long-awaited sale finally went through via a $4.25 billion deal to private equity investor and Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon. However, since becoming the steward of the franchise, Dundon’s willingness to spend big appears to have dissipated. After taking control of the franchise just before the start of the NBA playoffs,…
Summer Ag Fairs Draw New Audiences With Entertainment
Fairs use entertainment to get people interested and in turn to introduce them to agriculture where they are, even if that means concerts on the bed of a pickup truck.
New Jersey Dem gov's blame game backfires after tech company pins noncitizen voter registration on state
Gov. Mikie Sherrill says about 400 noncitizens cast ballots due to a Motor Vehicle Commission software glitch, sparking a political backlash.
Business Beat: Monthly Chamber Ambassadors meeting scheduled for August 6
COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) - The Coldwater Area Chamber of Commerce will host its monthl;y Ambassadors Meeting on Th...
Peacock is getting a lift from World Cup, Spanish-language content
Peacock attracted new subscribers with the Spanish-language telecast of the World Cup, and executives say advertisers are taking notice.
Norah O'Donnell discusses new podcast focused on women's health
Wrexham to bring in Steve Nickson from Newcastle as new sporting director
Nickson has spent the last 15 years in various roles at Newcastle.
Canes will start their own sports network
The Carolina Hurricanes are launching their own sports network ahead of next season after their existing broadcast partner shut down operations.
7 events in Lancaster County this week, from a cat benefit car show to a Hispanic festival
With a beautiful weather forecast planned, there's no excuse to not get out and try something new this weekend.
Lititz Art Association to open gallery in downtown Lititz
After 60 years of being an organization, the Lititz Art Association will finally have a physical home.
Tencent Music Entertainment Group Stock 12‑Month Price Target Raised to $14.31, Implies 60% Upside
Explore more price target data and ratings for Tencent Music Entertainment Group on the Forecasts tab, and track all previous and future analyst recommendations for Tencent Music Entertainment Group in the dedicated News Flow.Select reference data provided by FactSet. Copyright © 2026 FactSet Resea…
AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. Stock 12‑Month Price Target Raised to $2.79, Implies 27% Upside
Explore more price target data and ratings for AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. on the Forecasts tab, and track all previous and future analyst recommendations for AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. in the dedicated News Flow.Select reference data provided by FactSet. Copyright © 2026 FactSet Researc…
Does the science of peptides live up to the hype?
Synthetic peptides are getting some serious hype, from fitness influencers on your FYP to people seeking new options for chronic conditions. And while the human body already makes peptides, like insulin and the hormone oxytocin, most of the viral synthetic peptides are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Scientists say that raises some big concerns about safety and efficacy. So ahead of this week’s FDA meeting to discuss seven commonly used peptides, we get into the science with health reporter Sarah Boden.Interested in more science behind health trends? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. It includes perks like bonus episodes, early access, archive access, curated playlists and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
Moms Podcast Takeover: Sun, swim & science with Dr. Liza Lockwood
Summer myths are everywhere—but some can be dangerous. This week on the Mom Pod, Dr. Liza Lockwood joins the moms to separate fact from fiction on sunscreen, water safety, and hydration. From the biggest summer parenting myths to simple science-backed tips that could keep your family safer, this is one conversation you'll want before your next trip to the beach, pool, or playground.
Disney cuts several hundred jobs across entertainment divisions
The Walt Disney Company is eliminating several hundred positions across its entertainment businesses in its ... Read More
'Star Trek: The Next Generation' cast: See what became of the Enterprise crew nearly 40 years later
'Star Trek: The Next Generation' ushered in a golden age for the beloved franchise. See Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, and more nearly 40 years after the premiere.
RFK Jr. says cyclosporiasis outbreak is ‘under control’ as Mexico casts doubt on link to Taylor Farms facility
Mexico said its own investigation hasn’t found evidence linking the outbreak to the Taylor Farms facility in central Mexico.
AI and the rise of the universal entertainment app
Over the past decade, streaming platforms competed by dominating individual formats like music, video, podcasts, or audiobooks. Now, as AI makes it easier to create, organize, and recommend content, those distinctions are fading, pushing companies like Spotify, Netflix, YouTube, and TikTok to become all-purpose entertainment destinations instead.
AI and the rise of the universal entertainment app
Over the past decade, streaming platforms competed by dominating individual formats like music, video, podcasts, or audiobooks. Now, as AI makes it easier to create, organize, and recommend content, those distinctions are fading, pushing companies like Spotify, Netflix, YouTube, and TikTok to become all-purpose entertainment destinations instead.
Kaylee Hottle, deaf \'Godzilla\' actor, killed in car crash at 18
Kaylee Hottle, a deaf actor known for her roles in two “Godzilla” films, has died in a car crash in Maryland. She was 18. The Frederick County Sheriff's Office reports
Governor: 6,600 noncitizens registered to vote after error in New Jersey
Gov. Mikie Sherrill says fewer than 400 of those people ended up casting ballots
Governor: 6,600 noncitizens registered to vote after error in New Jersey
Gov. Mikie Sherrill says fewer than 400 of those people ended up casting ballots
6,600 noncitizens registered to vote by New Jersey motor vehicle system error, Gov. Sherill says
The Democratic governor, who took office this year, blamed a Motor Vehicle Commission system software error but said a preliminary analysis showed that fewer than 400 of the people registered that way went on to cast ballots.
Carolina Hurricanes To Launch Own Sports Network For Game Broadcasts
The NHL franchise is taking control of its local broadcasts, ditching traditional regional networks to deliver innovative programming and flexible viewing options directly to Canes fans.
ECFR’s summer entertainment list 2026 – European Council on Foreign Relations
Whether you’re heading off on holiday or staying home this summer, ECFR’s entertainment recommendations—spanning books, podcasts and tv series—will help you rec
Moebius Entertainment boards ‘Happily Ever After’ ahead of ...
The cast includes Shuhua, the Taiwanese singer from K-pop group i-dle, in her feature debut.
Why Newcastle are changing club badge
Newcastle United supporters are set to vote on a new crest as the club look to change their badge for the first time since 1988.
Business Beat : Ribbon cutting scheduled for Clearlake Ledgers
COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) - The Coldwater Area Chamber of Commerce will host a special ribbon-cutting ceremony to c...
Ranking the NFC North LBs, DBs, and coaches
On our latest Detroit Lions podcast we rank the NFC North linebackers, defensive backs and coaches for the 2026 season.
Sight & Sound\'s productions will stream on Prime Video through Wonder Project
There will soon be yet another way to watch Sight & Sound's films and filmed productions from the comfort of your own home.
'A very infectious person'
Keegan - who died on Monday - signed Mathie for Newcastle in 1993. Mathie told BBC Radio Suffolk's The Blue Hour: "Very sad, really very sad. They've lost a football great there as a player, a manager and a person.
'Kimmel' Guest Host Colman Domingo Trolls MAGA With Epic Melania Trump Reminder
The actor mocked right-wing outrage over the cast of “The Odyssey.”
Cyclosporiasis: the science, risks and red flags
What’s small, round and could give you explosive diarrhea? Cyclospora parasites. The diarrheal disease they cause is wreaking havoc on thousands this summer in what is the largest known flare up in the U.S. ever. What’s causing it and what can we do about it? NPR’s Joseph Kim joins host Nate Rott to talk about the outbreak – and how to protect yourself and your loved ones.Read more of Joseph’s reporting on cyclosporiasis here. Interested in more science in the news? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. It includes perks like bonus episodes, early access, archive access, curated playlists and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
Why Trump and Mamdani might both welcome a fight over Netanyahu
President Donald Trump’s approval ratings may be sliding, but one political super sense is as sharp as ever: picking a fight with an adversary he casts as the entire Democratic Party.
ESPN reportedly lays off analyst Ryan Clark during broadcast of 'NFL Live'
UFC Freedom 250 Fails to Knock Out The Ratings
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) If UFC fans wanted one image to say, “Hey, Paramount+ is crushing it with their UFC rights deal,” I could provide that image. Here it is: (Reminder: this is my creation of the Nielsen Top 30, since Nielsen doesn’t combine the lists or include sports. I take all three lists and combine them. Some streaming TV shows probably have higher ratings than many of the films on this list.) Look at that! UFC Freedom 250 is number one! It topped the Nielsen “Top 30” list for shows and films that made the top ten the week of 15-June. So if you’re a UFC fan or supporter of Paramount+, that’s the good news for you this week. This program topped the ratings charts for one week. Everything else is bad news, or at least a huge caveat to that story, which I’ll explain today in the first part of this week’s Streaming Ratings Report—for the weeks of 8-June and 15-June—which is a double issue since I’ve been writing on a bunch of topics recently. UFC Freedom 250 is one of the biggest streaming events of the year, and super relevant to Paramount+’s strategy, so it merited its own article. Let’s dive in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of June 8th to June 21st 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Check Out My Interview on UFC 250 at MMA Draw After you read this article, if you want even more thoughts on UFC and Paramount-Skydance/Paramount+, I did a written interview with MMA Draw. They asked me to answer some questions about UFC Freedom 250, and I was happy to chat with them. Find it here: [ The MMA Draw Newsletter Did Paramount really overpay for the UFC? What the data tells us so far If you know the history of American television, you also know that combat sports is often a leading indicator of the future… Read more a day ago · 10 likes · 1 comment · Nate Wilcox and Zach Arnold ](https://www.themmadraw.com/p/did-paramount-really-overpay-for?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) I never thought I’d need a combat sports newsletter in my life, but the good folks at MMA Draw publish an excellent one on UFC, MMA, pro wrestling, boxing and more, analyzing both the sports themselves and the politics, economics and antitrust issues that impact them. Check the article and their newsletter out! Paramount+ Has Its Best Sporting Event of All Time…But Was It Worth It? Before we look at the UFC Freedom 250 data in particular, let’s talk about what we can’t say. Namely, let’s start with the lack of comparisons. First off, I’d love to put a chart out comparing this fight to past UFC fights on Paramount+…but we don’t have the data. This is the first time we’ve gotten Nielsen data about a Paramount+ UFC fight. As far as I can tell, Paramount provided data for the first fight, but it was a proprietary datecdote (saying it had “an average minute audience” of 5 million “views”) and then, for two fights, we got the linear viewership numbers when they aired on CBS, but no streaming data. Everything else was crickets. We also can’t compare this fight to other fights/combat sports on streaming, in particular the MMA and boxing, because Netflix also didn’t use Nielsen to track those events, opting for TVision and VideoAmp, respectively. (This isn’t Paramount’s fault, but does still suck.) We also can’t compare to UFC’s fights that used to be on ESPN+, since we don’t have any data for that, plus Disney+ didn’t have marquee fights. The comparisons would not be apples-to-apples. Can we compare to past Pay-Per-View fights? Absolutely not. The comparisons would absolutely NOT be apples-to-apples. That didn’t stop Paramount+, though, who bragged that their UFC events have reached drastically more people than past PPV fights. Duh. Sorry, but I gotta make this point again. A basic tenet of economics is that the cheaper something becomes, the more people consume or buy it. That’s Econ 101. (Sometimes pundits call things “Econ 101” that are actually like Econ 210 or even PhD-level economics, but no, this is really like first or second class basic economics.) Yet I still see one analytics firm consistently say that more people watch films on streaming than PVOD proves streaming which means that the streaming window is more valuable than the PVOD window. No, it’s not! Same thing here. Pay-Per-View events back in the day could be really, really, really expensive! So whole groups of people pitched in to buy them. That increased the perceived value of, say, the Mike Tyson fight. Or a UFC numbered event. So yes, the fact that Paramount+ makes numbered UFC fights essentially “free” if you’re already a Paramount+ member means consumption will go up. Obviously. Same for Netflix and their boxing matches. They’re talking about fights that used to cost consumers, in some cases, $50 in 1996…which is over $100 in today’s dollars. Over 1.6 million people paid that to watch the Tyson-Holyfield fight! Again, streaming is essentially “free”. Or $10 to $20, depending on what streamer we’re talking about and what tier you’re on. No wonder more people are “watching”. (Plus, Nielsen’s out-of-home viewing also helps these numbers.) UFC Freedom 250 Did Well…But I Have A Lot of Worries So what can we compare the fights to? Well, the good news is Nielsen put out that the fight averaged 7.0 million viewers for UFC Freedom 250, which is a solid number for a fight. We also know the length, at roughly 4 and a half hours. (I saw different run times, but this seems to be the consensus considering it started at 8 pm, had a delay and then finished after midnight on the East Coast. If you assume a shorter run time, then yes, the total hours viewed would go down.) That means I have the two numbers needed to add this to my Nielsen database. And then…I can compare this viewership to the NFL: And, uh, not great. But also within striking distance, mainly because the runtime for this event was so long. I’d also add that this event had viewership equal to a regular season NFL game on streaming, but if anything, it was more comparable to an NFL playoff or Super Bowl-esque event. And you can compare viewership to the top football games on broadcast, cable and streaming, and it’s not impressive at all: We can also compare it to other sports that week, including the NBA Finals and start of the World Cup: Again, not great. The NBA generated roughly four times as many average viewers each game for its NBA Finals. The World Cup has similarly big numbers. Also, that’s just a tiny fraction of the 25 most watched sporting events each week. The NBA, NHL and FIFA World Cup had many, many more games racking up hours. We could also compare this to other streaming programs to get an idea of “is this a good investment?” and here is how it ranks compared to other top Paramount+ programs: The worry here? Well, unlike scripted programming, which has rewatchability, older fights/sporting events have very little library value. Very, very few people are rewatching these fights, especially years from now. Paramount has also released datecdotes bragging about their subscriber numbers. Earlier this year, they claimed that the first UFC fight on Paramount+ brought in 1 million subscribers. Then, in their quarterly earnings report, they only ended up with 700K subs. Not great! They claimed they dropped lower-value international subscribers, but that’s why I tend to discount subscriber additions when they’re leaked to the press.1 I expect we may see a bump again for UFC Freedom 250, but I’d caution using subscriber growth so soon after these events to judge the success, since new subs with high churn (see Peacock) aren’t great either. Also, analysts often want to attribute all subscriber growth to their favorite/pet show, and that just doesn’t make sense. The biggest caveat for UFC Freedom 250 and Paramount’s very first UFC marquee event is that these could be high watermarks for the sport. UFC Freedom 250 had an incredible amount of earned media coverage compared to most UFC fights. I mean, it had wall-to-wall national news coverage in the lead up to the event. (The first fight also had a lot of promotion from Paramount since it was first.) Other fights could reach this bar—say the Conor McGregor return to the Octagon—but they’ll be fewer and far between. Was This Deal Worth It? All to ask: is this Paramount deal worth it? In this case, I think the UFC Freedom 250 numbers are more distracting than helpful. This fight did well and compares well to other top sporting events. But we know that the first marquee event was at least a third smaller, if Paramount’s own data is to be believed. And it’s likely the other fights are much, much, much smaller. And then you get to the paycheck that Paramount-Skydance paid. FIFA’s World Cup cost about the same for Fox, but clearly generated multiples more total viewership. (Though it’s only every four years.) The NBA is much more expensive, but until the playoffs, they likely didn’t pay for itself. Even still, Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video likely overpaid. So, in that context, the NBA may be an overpay that makes the UFC look not so bad. But two overpays don’t make an underpay, to paraphrase the old cliché about wrongs and rights. And looking at UFC Freedom 250 as the likely ceiling of MMA on Paramount+, Paramount-Skydance likely paid too much. Share 1 I would love regular reports on subscriber additions by programs, but as is, it’s mostly leaked or rumored in haphazard ways.
Jeff Arcuri On Katie Thurston Cancer, Netflix Special
Jeff Arcuri talks his wife Katie Thurston's cancer battle and telling that story in his debut Netflix special on the 'Comedy Means Business' podcast.
Former sports reporter brings love of the game to life in art
Former Edgerton and Janesville print and broadcast sports reporter Bob Samuelson has brought his lifelong love of the game to life in the form of hand-drawn portraits of legendary athletes.
Shaky political "science": breakdown of the peer review process
[This article is the latest in our “Shaky Political Science” series. In our 38 page report, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting,” released in December 2025, we examined over 40 studies focused on ranked choice voting (RCV). Many of these studies suffered from puzzling research methodologies, poorly constructed surveys, unrealistic simulated elections, cherry picked data and faulty analyses that often were contradicted by results from real-world elections (a link to our full paper is here). Here are links to the first four articles in our series: the first one summarizing the overall results of our report; the second one analyzed a study co-authored by University of Minnesota academic Larry Jacobs, which was one of the most error-prone of all the research we reviewed in our report; a third article showing an admirable example of two political scientists holding two other political scientists accountable for their flawed, sloppy research; and a fourth article that analyzed seven studies sponsored by New America’s political reform program that deployed flawed methodology based on “simulated” elections instead of real-world elections, which when combined with some basic misunderstandings of RCV, produced odd and misleading results]. In this fifth article in our “Shaky Political Science” series, we examine two flawed studies on the impact of RCV on voter turnout authored by San Francisco State University professor Jason McDaniel. McDaniel’s research in these two papers stands out for its puzzling methodology, inadequate and cherry-picked data, and faulty analyses that not only misunderstands ranked choice voting but reflects a basic misunderstanding of politics in general. The first of the McDaniel studies actually passed through a peer review process and then was subsequently published by the Journal of Urban Affairs, despite its obvious errors. It is perplexing that a jury of peer political scientists did not catch the errors and send it back to McDaniel for a rewrite or outright rejection. This calls into question the credibility of the peer review process itself. The peer review process is supposed to represent the intellectual pinnacle of the profession – a way for academics to certify the quality of each other’s work, and to act as a check against sloppy research. In the case of the McDaniel study, the peer review process failed. Yet his flawed study has been cited dozens of times by other political scientists in their own flawed works — an unvirtuous circle of academic research. Here is the first Jason McDaniel study that we analyzed: “Writing the Rules to Rank the Candidates: Examining the Impact of Instant-Runoff Voting on Racial Group Turnout in San Francisco Mayoral Elections,” by Jason McDaniel, 2016, Journal of Urban Affairs. This study covered San Francisco’s use of ranked choice voting (RCV) in mayoral elections, purporting to show that RCV reduces voter turnout overall, increases voter errors, and has a negative impact on “marginal populations,” i.e. racial minorities, mainly as the result of the alleged complexity of RCV asking voters to rank candidates and having to be familiar with multiple candidates and related dynamics. McDaniel reached these conclusions by examining five San Francisco mayoral elections taking place in odd years (i.e. where there are no federal or state races on the ballot) from 1995 to 2011, comparing three earlier non-RCV races (in 1995, 1999 and 2003) with the later two RCV races (in 2007 and 2011). Only two RCV races were studied, and as McDaniel acknowledged, only the contest in 2011 was “competitive” (that contest in 2007 was the first mayoral election using RCV, and incumbent mayor Gavin Newsom won easily in the first round of counting, earning 74% of first choices and far ahead of the second place candidate who had just 6.3% of first choices). Yet even the allegedly competitive contest in 2011was won by an incumbent with a landslide margin of nearly 20 points. No other elections were studied by McDaniel, even though San Francisco elects 17 other offices besides mayor with RCV, including the 11 seats on the Board of Supervisors (the name for the city council) in even years, and six other citywide offices in odd years. Previous academic research has found that competitive elections can stimulate greater voter involvement and higher turnout. For unexplained reasons, this study ignored at least 34 other RCV races between the years 2004 to 2011, many of which were very competitive and had high voter turnout. Instead, McDaniel’s analysis based its conclusions on data from only a single, marginally-competitive mayor’s race using RCV. These 2007 and 2011 mayoral elections were the only two RCV elections that McDaniel used as the sole basis for his small data set to determine the impact of RCV on voter turnout. Despite having no meaningful data to inform his study, McDaniel nonetheless concluded that RCV lowered turnout when compared to the previous three mayoral non-RCV elections using two-round runoffs. Then, using the same inadequate database of San Francisco elections, McDaniel also found that “Instant-runoff voting is associated with a significant decline in Black voter turnout and White voter turnout…On average, Black voter turnout decreases by 18 points and White voter turnout decreases by 16 points …” But how could he credibly arrive at that conclusion when his study was based on voter turnout in two RCV contests that were not even remotely competitive? Beyond that, McDaniel tacitly admits that the key determining factor driving Black voter turnout was not RCV vs non-RCV elections, but the presence of a viable Black candidate. McDaniel wrote, “Black voter turnout was about 17 percentage points higher for the two elections that featured an African American candidate compared to the three elections that did not” — but one of those three elections did not use RCV. The same dynamic was present for White voter turnout, in which higher turnout was not correlated with RCV vs non-RCV elections, but the presence of a viable White candidate. Beyond that, McDaniel’s voter turnout results, whether correlated with the race of the candidates or RCV vs non-RCV elections, showed no clear patterns. In his Figure 1, he shows low Asian voter turnout in the non-RCV elections in 1999 and 2003 when there was no viable Asian candidate running, but in the 2007 mayoral election using RCV, there is still no viable Asian candidate, yet Asian turnout increases dramatically. For Latinos, voter turnout is virtually the same in 1999 (no viable Latino candidate, non-RCV elections), 2003 (leading Latino candidate, non-RCV elections), 2007 (no viable Latino candidate, RCV elections) and 2011 (leading Latino candidate, RCV elections). Meanwhile White voter turnout increased dramatically from a low in the 2007 mayoral election, in which the leading candidate was a white incumbent, to the 2011 election in which there were no leading white candidates that finished any higher than sixth place with 5.6% of the vote. Clearly other factors were determining voter turnout than either the race of the candidates or RCV vs non-RCV elections. Despite these inconsistent findings, McDaniel boldly marches forth to render conclusions about the impact of RCV on different groups of racial voters, even though his conclusions are not remotely supported by his data. This looks like the worst kind of “data cherry picking” to cover up a puzzling conclusion based on a poor data set involving only two RCV elections, neither of which were remotely competitive. McDaniel’s cherry picking didn’t stop there. In calculating voter turnout for the three non-RCV mayoral elections in 1995, 1999 and 2003, he failed to mention that in each of these years there was a two-round runoff election, with a first round election in November in which no candidate garnered a winning majority of the vote, followed by the decisive runoff in December. So there were two non-RCV elections in each election year. But McDaniel only decided to include one of the two elections in his data set, apparently the December runoff in each year (which had higher turnout in two out of the three mayor’s races, and lower turnout in the third). So he ignored the November 1995 election, the November 1999 election when turnout was only 45 percent, and the November 2003 election when turnout was only 45.7 percent. This is flawed methodology based on blatant cherry picking, since McDaniel simply omitted three elections worth of data that did not fit within his frame. His study should never have made it through a peer review process, and it is an embarrassment to political science that not only was it approved for publication, but it has been uncritically cited by dozens of other political scientists. Share A “study” without wider context or credible data Lacking a data set that included even a single competitive RCV mayoral race, McDaniel declared that RCV lowered voter turnout in 2011, when turnout was 42.5 percent. But he also ignored -- or did not realize -- that voter turnout in mayoral elections during 2011 had sharply declined in all big cities, including far more steeply in nearby Los Angeles and other cities. In fact, San Francisco’s election in 2011 had the second highest turnout of any mayoral election in the nation’s 22 largest cities from 2008-2011. Was 2011 just a particularly low turnout year all across the country, perhaps because the country was still reeling from the aftermath of the housing market collapse in 2008-2010? McDaniel ignored this factor and did not search for alternative explanations beyond his flawed thesis. Furthermore, while McDaniel suggested that RCV leads to more “overvotes” – which is an invalidated ballot in which a voter, in either a non-RCV or RCV race, makes a mistake and selects two candidates for a single choice – he failed to address that in the June 2012 US Senate primary contest, which used the typical “one-choice” plurality method and did not use RCV, there was more than five times as many overvotes in San Francisco and Oakland than in the RCV mayoral elections in those cities. Additionally, turnout had been significantly higher and more representative in RCV elections for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors races -- that McDaniel didn’t even bother to study -- as compared to previous “delayed two-round runoffs” for those offices, often higher by as much as 40% in the RCV races. Perhaps the most surprising irony was that an earlier study co-authored by McDaniel (Overvoting and the Equality of Voice under Instant-Runoff Voting in San Francisco by Francis Neely and Jason McDaniel, 2015, California Journal of Politics and Policy) found that overvotes are often more common in lower-income precincts, but that the pattern of overvoting is similar in both RCV and non-RCV contests. Wrote Neely and McDaniel: “[Overvote] errors appear to be a function of complexity in general and not IRV per se…. the pattern of overvoting is similar in both IRV and non-IRV contests…Even among votes cast in a top-of-the-ticket race like U.S. Senate, overvoting occurs in an uneven fashion” (IRV, or ‘instant runoff voting,’ is another name for ranked choice voting in single-winner contests). So McDaniel not only contradicted his own conclusion in his earlier study with Neely, but the earlier study had been an important corrective for one of the most frequently made mistakes made by anti-RCV political scientists – a continual failure to provide crucial context by pairing a comparative analysis of real world RCV elections with an analysis of real world plurality or other electoral methods. Unfortunately McDaniel’s earlier study does not get cited much by other researchers, and McDaniel did not even cite it in his own flawed study analyzed above. Incredibly, McDaniel cherrypicked McDaniel, even as his flawed study has been cited dozens of times. Despite being a textbook example of poor political “science,” featuring both inadequate as well as cherrypicked data, the shelf life of McDaniel’s study has been extended endlessly by other political scientists and media outlets who have cited it uncritically. Equally troubling, the Journal of Urban Affairs put this paper through its peer review process and published it despite its numerous flaws. McDaniel gets it wrong, Part II Not content with producing one shoddy, confused paper, McDaniel produced another one a few years later, here is the link: Electoral Rules and Voter Turnout in Mayoral Elections: An Analysis of Ranked-Choice Voting by Jason McDaniel. San Francisco State Univ. (McDaniel, 2019). In this paper, McDaniel extended his previous flawed research focused on San Francisco, about voter turnout and voter impact, to multiple RCV cities through the 2018 elections. In his data set he included San Francisco, Minneapolis, St Paul, Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro and Santa Fe. He then compared their turnout in mayoral elections to non-RCV cities, and to mayoral elections in those cities held before first RCV usage, and concluded “a significant decrease in voter turnout of approximately 3–5 percentage points in RCV cities after the implementation of RCV.” But he replicated many of the same mistakes as his first study presented above. While in this study McDaniel attempted to distinguish between various factors, such as odd year vs. even year elections, competitive races vs. noncompetitive, contests with open seats and other factors, the analysis is superficial and inadequate. He attempts to incorporate so many often-conflicting variables that his conclusions are once again unsupported by the actual data, and ultimately unconvincing (this second study never underwent a peer review process). For example, McDaniel declared that for RCV cities “in elections that are more competitive than average (margin of victory less than 20%), there is no significant RCV effect on voter turnout.” Yet McDaniel is a professor in a city, San Francisco, in which the 2018 special election using RCV to fill a mayoral vacancy was exceedingly close, decided by a margin of only one percentage point, and resulted in the second highest turnout in San Francisco history for a mayoral election. Illustrating the complexity involved in assessing the critical factors in turnout, that special election was held on the same election day as federal and state offices, which tends to boost turnout. Yet more voters participated in that RCV mayoral election than voted on the same day in the non-RCV primary for governor in which former San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom was running. Even more puzzling, in this study McDaniel inaccurately cited his own previous study from 2015 with Neely. McDaniel wrote, “Neely and McDaniel (2015) examine individual ballot image files within a natural experiment, and find higher rates of ballot errors in RCV elections compared to non-RCV elections” (emphasis added). However, we quoted from that 2015 study several paragraphs above, and in actual fact Neely and McDaniel actually concluded the opposite -- that the pattern of overvoting – which is the most common form of ballot error – is similar in both RCV and non-RCV contests. McDaniel also ignored the fact that in Bay Area RCV elections held in even years – at the same time as federal and state elections, when turnout is highest -- the “undervote” (that is, the dropoff in ballots cast for governor or mayor) has declined, which contradicts his thesis that the act of ranking ballots in RCV elections is too complex and presents a barrier for certain demographics of voters. To his credit, McDaniel actually acknowledged another contradiction in his own paper, which found a negative RCV turnout effect in some odd-year elections but not others, admitting that “may present a challenge to the theory that increased complexity [from RCV] will have a marginal negative effect on voter turnout.” But he tried to wallpaper over that contradiction by blaming it on an unlikely source -- bad election administration. McDaniels wrote, “This would suggest that the negative impact of RCV on voter participation may be alleviated by high quality election administration,” without presenting any data or even anecdotes to support such an unfounded theory. While competent election administration of any election, whether RCV or non-RCV, is crucially important, there is no credible research that supports the far-fetched notion that the quality of election administration has much of an impact on voter turnout in US elections, whether using RCV or otherwise. Upgrade to a $5 subscription The unvirtuous circle of academic research It is puzzling how McDaniel’s first study could have survived the peer review process for the Journal of Urban Affairs. The mistakes in McDaniel’s first study above should have been obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of ranked choice voting as well as elections in general, and elections in San Francisco specifically. It undermines faith in the credibility of the peer review process to think that a jury of peer political scientists did not catch the egregious errors and reject McDaniel’s sloppy research and paper. And it remains a black mark on political science that this thoroughly discredited study has been cited dozens of times by other researchers. Indeed, in our research paper it became apparent that many political scientists cite each other’s flawed research to pad their list of citations and to legitimize their own flawed research, creating an unvirtuous circle of political science. More broadly, McDaniel’s voter turnout studies, like other studies evaluating RCV’s impact on turnout, lacked a recognition that no credible opinion or research can claim that RCV increases voter turnout merely because so many voters are excited to vote for their favorite candidates instead of “lesser evil” candidates without worrying about spoilers. Instead, with respect to turnout, the advantage of RCV has always been that, in most places where it has been used, it has eliminated a pre-November primary or post-November runoff, which usually saw about half the turnout of the November general election. This is especially true during even years when there are state and federal elections on the ballot which substantially drive turnout more than local contests. Any study that does not adequately account for this non-November primary/runoff vs November general election dynamic, or odd year vs even year election factors, is simply not credible. Both of McDaniel’s studies largely failed on those grounds. Steven Hill and Paul Haughey Share Upgrade to a $5 subscription Thanks for reading DemocracySOS…your digital portal for the pro-democracy movement. Subscribe for only $5 per month to receive full benefits and to support our work. Subscribe