On Wednesday night, two of the biggest teams in college basketball faced off in what many described as the game of the season. While Duke versus North Carolina is always a marquee matchup, this particular game had another unmissable element added to it: freshman forward Zion Williamson. With his remarkable combination of size and speed, basketball analysts almost unanimously agree that he is the favorite to be picked first in the NBA draft this summer. Unfortunately, Williamson’s night in the Continue reading
This past Sunday, the New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams in one of the most boring Super Bowl matchups of all time. The winning team only managed to score a single touchdown, and even that exciting moment didn’t arrive until the fourth quarter. As a result, ratings for the big game dropped to their lowest point in a decade. While CBS managed to bring in 111.3 million Super Bowl viewers in 2017, two years later that amount fell Continue reading
Last night, the NFL kicked off its new season with a battle of the birds as the Atlanta Falcons fell to the Philadelphia Eagles. But while Atlanta couldn’t earn a victory on the field, the franchise is certainly a winner in the eyes of many budget-minded fans. That’s because in 2017 the Falcons announced it would make some big changes to concession prices after the grand opening of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Rather than follow the industry’s lead and overcharge customers Continue reading
The 2018 FIFA World Cup hits the home stretch this week, with the semifinals taking place today and tomorrow followed by the final match on Sunday. While the end of this month-long festival of soccer will be bittersweet for many fans, few people will be sadder to see it go than the people who run the Italian publishing house Panini. The company specializes in making stickers that feature every player in the tournament along with a free booklet to place Continue reading
From keeping lodges toasty to powering chair lifts that must frequently scale mountains, ski resorts go through enormous amounts of energy during the winter months. Along with taking a toll on the environment, this heavy dependence on power can also be quite expensive. That’s why many ski resorts throughout the country are setting up their own utility systems to produce energy efficiently and sustainably.
Colorado’s Aspen Skiing Company, for instance, generates 24 million kilowatt hours of energy per year to Continue reading
For nearly a week, millions of people around the world have been tuning into the Winter Olympics broadcasting from Pyeongchang, South Korea. Like seemingly every edition of the games, figure skating has been one of the most watched events as stars like Adam Rippon and Mirai Nagasu take to the ice with incredible grace and skill. With everyone’s eyes on the athletes, though, your ears may have missed something new about the music that soundtracks these routines. For the first Continue reading
Unlike last year’s historic comeback, Tom Brady wasn’t able to turn around the fortunes of his New England Patriots to win Super Bowl LII. The Philadelphia Eagles ultimately left as champions after a thrilling game that saw plenty of action on the field. The tone during the commercial breaks was far less tense, however, as marketers largely relied on humor for 2018’s crop of Super Bowl ads. Among the top spots on USA Today’s annual Ad Meter poll are Continue reading
After years of skipping television advertisements with DVRs, many Americans have little patience for commercial breaks. And although ads are largely unavoidable during live programming like sporting events or award shows, that doesn’t mean people are paying attention. Oftentimes viewers will fiddle with their smartphones or simply tune out completely while commercials are rolling. This is bad news for companies who pay big bucks to advertise during high-rated time slots.
In an effort to get people watching ads on TV Continue reading
Over the years video games have grown from a niche entertainment platform into a dominant commercial and cultural force. And while plenty of casual players drive this thriving industry, a new class of professional gamers has also emerged on the Internet and in “eSports” leagues. During these competitions, dedicated players face off against each other in front of thousands of cheering fans, just like at regular sporting events.
Like video games themselves, eSports were once thought to hold limited appeal Continue reading