Over the past few days, college football has undergone a shake-up that further obliterated traditional geographic rivalries, left a once-proud conference on its deathbed, and cemented the formation of a handful of national superconferences—all in the pursuit of TV riches.

The moves reflect the inevitable professionalization of college football, one of the only university athletic products that can command billions of dollars for television broadcast rights.

Here’s what went down:

• Oregon and Washington defected from the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, joining their West Coast peers USC and UCLA in the once-Midwestern-focused conference that will soon have 18 teams from coast to coast.
• Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah said they would also leave the Pac-12 for the Big 12, a decision Colorado made two weeks ago.
• The 108-year-old Pac-12 is teetering on the verge of collapse with just four schools remaining: Stanford, Cal, Oregon State, and Washington State.

If you hate this, blame TV

The Big Ten and Southeastern Conference (SEC) have recently secured mega TV deals that will pay their members handsomely…and the Pac-12 has not. It’s that simple.

The SEC inked a $3 billion deal for 10 years with Disney beginning in 2024, while the Big Ten reached a mammoth agreement with Fox, CBS, and NBC worth up to $7.5 billion over seven years. The Pac-12 has been trying to strike a deal with Apple TV+ to stream its games, but the potential payout for schools was not enough to stop the exodus.

• The Big Ten sent $58 million to each of its schools during the 2021–22 fiscal year, according to tax records, and that number will only grow under its new TV deal.
• Under the Apple deal, Pac-12 members would receive $30 million…on the high end of the range.

Big picture: “The old question—how long would it take TV money to destroy college football? Maybe we’re here. Maybe we’re here,” the head football coach at Washington State mused last Thursday. And whether or not you agree that conference realignment has “destroyed” college football, it has certainly dismantled the regional distinctiveness of each conference that gave the sport its magic.

Is today arm day or leg day? How about alarming stat day: Americans waste $397 million on unused gym memberships every year.*

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The USWNT is going home from the World Cup. No country has ever won back-to-back-to-back World Cup trophies, and it’s going to stay that way since the US Women’s National Team lost a heartbreaker to Sweden in a penalty shootout yesterday (by one millimeter!). Coming ahead of the quarterfinal round, it was the US women’s earliest exit from a World Cup ever. The next chance for some hardware isn’t far away—the Paris Olympics are next summer—but the once-dominant USWNT has found that its international peers are catching up to its quality.

Barbie hits $1 billion. Greta Gerwig’s hot-pink cultural phenomenon became just one of ~50 movies ever to reach $1 billion in global box office sales (not adjusted for inflation), and Gerwig became the first woman to direct a $1 billion movie solo. Barbie is also the fastest-selling movie in the 100-year history of Warner Bros., reaching 10 figures after just 17 days in theaters. And the momentum isn’t slowing down: Barbie held its spot as the No. 1 movie in North America for the third straight weekend.

Musk and Zuckerberg fought over their fight. The billionaire drama started when X owner Elon Musk said that a potential cage match between him and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be livestreamed on his platform and that all proceeds from it will go to charity for veterans. Over on rival app Threads, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shot back, “Shouldn’t we use a more reliable platform that can actually raise money for charity?” and claimed that Musk “hasn’t confirmed” the Aug. 26 date Zuck floated. “I’m not holding my breath,” Zuck said.

RIP fully remote work: 2020–2023. You lived a beautiful life that left an imprint on couches everywhere.

The cause of death? Videoconferencing software company Zoom has told employees within a 50-mile radius of one of its offices that they must come in at least two days a week, Insider reported.

Zoom, of course, was the poster child for remote work during the pandemic, emerging from obscurity to become the go-to video platform for work meetings and awkward virtual happy hours. So, I don’t need to explain the symbolism of Zoom telling its employees to return to the physical office to describe how CEOs think fully remote work is going for them.

The increased hostility toward WFH from executives certainly hasn’t been good for Zoom stock. After soaring more than 6x during the pandemic, Zoom has lost more than $100 billion in market value since its peak, per Insider.

Google’s trying a different strategy to lure workers back

A cheap hotel stay. The tech giant is offering its employees a sweetheart deal to check in to the Google-owned hotel on its Mountain View campus for $99 a night, CNBC reported, hoping that a breezy commute will attract more Googlers to code in person.

This “Summer Special” does not fall under approved business travel, so the hotel stays will come out of employees’ pockets. Still, workers have been doing the math…and $99/night comes out to about $3,000/month, which is less than many of them pay for rent in Silicon Valley. Plus, someone makes your bed.

Ohio special election with abortion implications. Ohio residents will vote tomorrow in a special election over their ability to amend the state constitution. Currently, a simple majority is needed to pass constitutional amendments, but Ohio Republicans want to increase that threshold to 60% ahead of November’s election. Why then? An amendment guaranteeing access to abortion is on the ballot.

A smattering of earnings: Disney’s earnings Wednesday afternoon will be appointment viewing for anyone interested in its plans for ESPN, its fight with FL Gov. Ron DeSantis, and its thoughts on empty-ish amusement parks. Also reporting this week: Lyft, UPS, Lucid, Roblox, and AMC.

Inflation data: While it used to be nightmare fuel, the monthly consumer price index report—a broad measure of inflation—has been retreating dramatically this year. Thursday’s reading is expected to show prices continued their cooldown in July.

Everything else…

• The Mega Millions jackpot has risen to $1.55 billion ahead of tomorrow’s drawing. It’s the third-largest lottery prize in US history.
• Virgin Galactic aims to fly its first private customers to space on Thursday.
• The Women’s World Cup wraps up the knockout round and will begin the quarterfinals on Friday, sans Team USA.

Stat: Last quarter, in truck-lovin’ states Texas and Wyoming, more than 25% of car shoppers committed to a payment of more than $1,000 per month, according to Edmunds. Across the country, the share of car buyers who financed a vehicle with a monthly payment of at least $1,000 jumped to a record 17.1% in Q2 (in 2019, it was just 4.3%). Higher auto prices and borrowing rates are making buying a vehicle a major expense for households.

Quote: “I thought I was going to s--- bricks.”

Simone Biles, she’s just like us…extremely nervous before performing in public. Biles acknowledged the butterflies in her stomach in her return to gymnastics competition after two years off this weekend, but those nerves didn’t derail what was a dazzling performance at the US Classic outside of Chicago. Biles, the most decorated US gymnast ever, won the all-around title with lots of room between her and the runner-up. Her next competition will be the US Championships in San Jose, CA, later this month.

Read: Scenes from a city—Portland, OR—that only hands out tickets for using fentanyl. (New York Times)

The wide world of rock. The more than 150+ subgenres that constitute rock and metal music. (YouTube)

Seinfeld in the present day: Have you ever considered that Trump’s riffs eerily resemble Jerry’s monologues?

Smart office purchase: These Post-it dry-erase sheets, courtesy of Recomendo.

Chart of the day: How much different types of doctors earn.

CFOs, meet HR: Discover how one finance team partnered with their HR department to improve talent retention.

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Turntable: Hope you like the vowel “O,” because it’s the only one you’ve got today. Play Turntable here.

NCAA catchphrases

There’s been a lot of change in college football recently, so we’re going to quiz you on something with more staying power: team catchphrases and slogans.

We’ll give you a college team’s rallying cry, and you have to name the university.

1. Go blue
2. Hook ’em horns
3. Roll tide
4. Rock Chalk, Jayhawk
5. Hotty Toddy
6. Woo pig sooie
7. Go cocks

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*Source: https://www.finder.com/unused-gym-memberships

**Facet Wealth, Inc. (“Facet”) is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. This is not an offer to sell securities or the solicitation of an offer to purchase securities. This is not investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. Based on a study conducted by Facet in April 2023. A statistically valid sample of members following Facet’s current planning process demonstrated that more than half of these members, defined here as a majority, achieved value greater than their planning fee. This value was shown to reoccur on an annual basis. Assumptions included average expenses and fees, using retirement tax savings, portfolio expenses and tax loss harvesting as value drivers using Facet’s investment services, and discounting value to align with the acceptance of Facet recommendations. Facet assesses clients an annual flat fee for service based on the complexity of planning needs. There is no separate or additional fee for investment management. This is not a guarantee or prediction of actual results for any member and results may vary by member. Some value like tax loss harvesting may vary year to year. Offer ends August 31, 2023.