🏒  Frozen assets

👋  Good morning. Crank up the volume in your car: Wendy’s just dropped an emo album. Yup, red-headed, pigtailed Wendy slapped on some thick black eyeliner and released a six-song album titled "Songs to Listen to in the Wendy’s Parking Lot.” The album — produced by Matt Squire, who has worked with artists like Ariana Grande, One Direction, and Panic! at the Disco — includes tracks with titles like "My Frosty's Funeral." Sounds like a banger. 

NEWS FLASH 

⛳  A new swing at the country club: A former Boeing engineer is building the East West Club in a former Seattle metal fabrication plant, looking to reimagine the country club. The cheaper, more casual alternative fills nearly 8k square feet of space with indoor golf simulator bays, digital putting space, a lounge, cafe, and a pour-your-own-beer wall. The club is funding its buildout through a members-first bootstrap model — capping it at an initial 100 people who buy in upfront — and is targeting a March 2027 opening.

👓  These smart glasses are hot (not in a good way): If you have a pair of the Air3 AR glasses, you may also need some gauze for the scorch wounds on your ears. Inmo, the maker of the specs, issued a recall on the glasses for an overheating issue that can “[pose] a risk of serious injury or death due to burn hazard.” They have sold 1.6k pairs of glasses, which Inmo says can be fixed with a firmware update.

🎅  Santa’s little AI helper: AI-driven traffic to US retail sites will more than double this holiday season, according to Adobe’s estimates, up 130% year over year. The company found that shoppers referred by AI spend more per visit than non-AI referred shoppers, a reversal from 18 months ago, and consumers using AI assistants report higher purchase confidence and lower return rates. The bots like to shop: AI-referred visitors add items to their carts at a 32% higher rate.

MORE NEWS TO KNOW

• High gas prices: ...they suck so hard — unless you’re selling electric vehicles. In August, registrations of new EVs increased 52% year over year in Europe. There was also a slight uptick in the US, where the EV market has been weak all year.

• What’s old is new again: Bose launched a $99 pair of wired noise-cancelling earbuds in three colors, giving retro-tech-loving young consumers a “retro” way to have the contents of their bags completely tangled. 
  

• So begin the bribes: A developer offered $10k payouts to every household in Hazle Township, Pennsylvania if they would simply allow construction of a data center in their backyard. Most of the town is still fighting hard against it. 
  

• Weird: A new Target location without any of the company’s signature red color on its exterior? That’s happening in Bridgehampton, New York, where everything will be gray, in line with town standards. 
  

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THE BIG IDEA

Youth hockey's biggest landlord says it's in it for the long haul

The 1980 "Miracle on Ice" inspired a generation of kids to head to the local rink.

More than 40 years later, many of those rinks are neglected and disappearing. Cities like Kettering, Ohio, are considering closing their indoor ice rinks rather than paying a ~$15m repair bill.

There’s money to be made. Youth sports is a $40B+ industry, and ice hockey costs anywhere from $2k to ~$25k (depending on how seriously you commit to your 8-year-old’s dream… or your dream).

Private equity is buying up youth sports. But other privately held companies are shooting their shot, too.

The major player, Black Bear Sports Group (BBSG), distinguishes itself from private equity and says it's committed to accessible youth hockey.

“Our priority is not a current return on investment,” Andrew Goldman, BBSG co-president of hockey, told The Hustle. “We have built BBSG because we care about the game of hockey.”

Still, there are some unhappy fans.

The offense:

Since 2015, BBSG’s goal has been simple: buy distressed or closed rinks, fix them, and fill them.

According to the company, BBSG:

• Owns or operates 49 rinks (under 3% of US rinks)
  
• Pays $300k to $400k in utilities per rink annually
  
• Fills the ice year-round with its own clubs, leagues, camps, and lessons
  
• Put ~$20m into ice plants, roofs, and locker rooms over three years
  
• Lost money in FY2024 and FY2025
  
• Is expanding its free beginner program to 44 rinks
  
• Grew travel-team players 9% last season vs. 1.6% nationally

“Our clubs and leagues exist because that is what keeps the lights on in buildings that were losing money or closed before we got there,” Goldman said.

The defense:

But critics cite rising fees, a USA Today investigation, and Sen. Chris Murphy's call to ban private equity in youth sports. Goldman says BBSG's rinks remain accessible and built to last.

• USA Today found $100 to $400 hikes on 142 of 209 teams. BBSG says taxes and utilities are up 10%+ and nearly one-third of teams held steady.
  
• Its foundation has given $250k+ in grants since 2020.
  
• Parents can't livestream games; watching costs $215.99 a year on Black Bear TV. BBSG cites safety and consent.
  
• BBSG says it has no fund, no exit date, and no promised returns.

“We know our model works because of the rinks we’ve saved from closing,” Goldman said.

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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Get unstuck: This founder made one change that took his app from making $100/month to $10k. 

NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

Mile of manicured walkway at The Barefoot Trail in Arizona, America’s first “grounding park,” where you can spend $15 to lumber around the woods sans shoes or socks. Grounding, AKA “earthing,” — the act of walking barefoot on natural surfaces, like grass, dirt, and sand, to physically connect with the earth — has proposed benefits like reduced stress and improved sleep, and while people have engaged in the “practice” since the dawn of time, it’s only now being commodified thanks to its recent popularity on TikTok.

For those who can’t make it out to Arizona but still want to pay for what you could do for free in your backyard, there are plenty of (ironically) high-tech grounding products, like conductive bedsheets, flip flops, and mats, courtesy of the $7T wellness industry.

AROUND THE WEB

📅  On this day: In 1913, Rudolf Diesel — who invented the eponymous engine — vanished from the steamship he was taking from Belgium to England.

👾  Game: Enter a pixel art duel.

🎨  That’s fun: Get your Jackson Pollock on.

🔨  Bored?: Smash the walls.

🐈  Aww: What a little gentleman.

SHOWER THOUGHT

If plastic bags could think, then the plastic bag holding all the other plastic bags under the sink might be considered an esteemed position to hold.  SOURCE

Today's email was brought to you by Ben Berkley, Singdhi Sokpo, and Bill Meincke.

Editing by: Sara "Ice, ice, maybe?" Friedman.

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