Could Peloton hardware pose a national threat?

The question was raised because President Joe Biden stays fit with the connected fitness company’s stationary bike.

The bike’s built-in camera and microphone sparked concerns about foreign powers listening in on top-secret matters. 

In the end, it should be fine — particularly as the Secret Service and National Security Agency plan to alter the bike to ensure it meets security requirements.

Biden is not the first U.S. president whose recreational plans meant changes to the White House:

• Franklin D. Roosevelt put in a heated swimming pool in 1933.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower commissioned a putting green outside the Oval Office.
• Richard Nixon added an underground bowling lane in 1973.
• Bill Clinton installed a jogging track and new practice green.
• Barack Obama got his own basketball court for regular pick-up games.
• Donald Trump designated an entire room to a golf simulator.

The new president’s implicit endorsement is another win for Peloton, which exploded last year as at-home fitness options grew in popularity. 

The company’s total revenue for fiscal year 2020 was $1.8 billion, a 100% increase year-over-year. Its membership base grew to approximately 3.1 million users, compared to 1.4 million members in the prior year.

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers announced his retirement yesterday after 17 years in the NFL and more than $240 million in earnings.

Rivers, who ranks fifth in league history in both passing yards and touchdown passes, could continue to see big paydays.

While he plans to coach his sons’ football team at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama, TV networks are also eyeing the always-chatty Rivers as an NFL analyst. 

Openings include the color commentator role for Fox and ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.” 

Rivers would join the growing list of NFL alumni on weekly broadcasts:

• Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has excelled as an analyst for CBS since 2017, and now makes a reported $18 million per season.
• Fellow retired Dallas QB Troy Aikman has become a staple in homes alongside Joe Buck on Fox.
• Former wideout Cris Collinsworth has been a color analyst for NBC since 1990 and has won 15 Sports Emmys.
• New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees has a deal to join “Sunday Night Football” as an analyst now that he’s retired.

Networks have also sought former Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning since he retired in 2016, though he’s hosting the ESPN+ show “Peyton’s Places.”

“Manning’s the white whale for everybody. But Rivers might be just as good. If not better,” a source told FOS in December. 

The business of fakes remains a very real issue for The Swoosh.

Nike and its subsidiary brand Converse are suing 589 websites and 676 social media accounts for allegedly infringing on trademarks to sell counterfeit versions of the companies’ apparel and accessories.

“The defendants, who have no affiliation with Nike or Converse, have attempted to capitalize on the popularity of plaintiffs’ marks by manufacturing and marketing counterfeit products falsely labeled as ‘Nike’ or ‘Converse,’” the company wrote.

Nike has been the target of several large-scale counterfeiting incidents in recent years. 

• In 2019, an unsealed Homeland Security document revealed that U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized $472 million worth of fake Nike and Louis Vuitton footwear. 
• The same year, authorities at L.A./Long Beach Seaport confiscated over 14,000 pairs of counterfeit Air Jordans worth an estimated $2.2 million.
• In 2018, a team of New York-based counterfeiters were caught smuggling more than 300,000 pairs of Air Jordans into the U.S., worth an estimated $73 million.

The sneaker giant has a well-documented history of aggressively defending its trademarks.

And for good reason: according to a 2019 report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Nike is the most counterfeited brand in the world. 

Money talks, and it’s how sponsors bring the best professional golfers to the events.

Prior to the pandemic, appearance fees were important to build competitive tournament fields. Now, with no fans and golfers wary of traveling the globe during a pandemic, those fees are even more crucial.

Tournaments and sponsors are willing to pay up to prevent a potentially vicious cycle: 

• Without top players, viewership struggles
• Fewer viewers leads to a drop in sponsorship ROI
• With fewer top-ranked players, Official World Golf Ranking points values drop – making tournament play less appealing for other players

Fees can also help players cover travel, accommodation and caddies’ base rates.

Top-tier golfers can earn more than $500,000 for just showing up at an event. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson has received $1 million to play an event, for example.

Tiger Woods received $3 million just to enter the 2013 Turkish Airlines Open — more than double that of the winner’s prize. He finished fourth in the event.

“When you’re trying to sell sponsorships, you need to have the best field possible,” golf agent Nick Biesecker told the New York Times. “If you have to load some pockets up to have that field, that’s what you do.”