Welcome back to The Crier, your exclusive weekly dispatch on the latest
programming, perks, and special intel available to Puck’s Inner Circle members.
As you know, the equity markets took a historic beating this week. And while many congressional Republicans, at least publicly, are suppressing their apprehension over Trump’s tariffs, D.C. whisper networks have been working overtime these past few days. Next Thursday, at 4 p.m. ET, Puck’s chief Washington correspondent, Leigh Ann Caldwell, will open her notebook to reveal the private conversations about the administration’s ongoing pressure campaign to keep members in line, the Scott Bessent vs. Peter Navarro factions, and where insiders believe this is all ends. Click here to register for the off-the-record conversation, or on the tile below.
In the meantime, now that The Varsity has expanded to three days per week ( sign up here) with the inimitable Julia Alexander contributing to John Ourand’s essential sports business email, we’re including a brief overview of the inaugural issue—along with some highlights from this week’s Inner Circle–exclusive Line Sheet and Wall Power emails. I hope you enjoy.
Jon
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Look for this icon indicating Inner Circle exclusive content such as stories or private emails that have been integrated into your existing Puck experience.
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Damn the torpedo bats: Depending on which side of the aisle your team sits on, torpedo bats are either the best thing to happen to baseball this season or an illegal advantage masterminded by the most villainous organization in all of sports: the Yankees. The team hit nine home runs on Opening Day with their new lumber, and if you’re MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, the bats are a net positive: the latest micro-innovation, after the pitch clock, to bring some enthusiasm to a game that has fallen behind its peers in media hype and deal size.
But as Julia notes, the league’s predicament is somewhat misunderstood: The game has rarely been more popular with audiences aged 18 to 35. To wit, last year’s Dodger-Yankees World Series drove 136 percent more TikTok engagement for the MLB account than the 2023 World Series. Since 2019, the number of ticket buyers in that age range has increased 8.5 percent—and that cohort’s viewership for national baseball games has increased by double-digit percentages. However, the downside of youth fandom is that this crowd knows the workarounds: The anti-piracy firm Synamedia and Ampere Analysis have reported that 83 percent of sports fans between ages 13 and 40 watch at least one game or match per week through illegal streams. [ Read More]
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“Taste is made by a thousand disgusts”: As part of Design.Space LA, Marion moderated a panel conversation on how art collection is starting to converge with design collection—and how this evolution in taste came about. The panel featured Jeffrey Deitch, the former museum director with galleries in New York and Los Angeles, and Sara Lee Hantman, the founder of Sea View Gallery. Here’s a snippet of their conversation…
Marion: What do you think accounts for your clients suddenly becoming more interested in design? How do you manage the expectations and goal-setting?
Deitch: It’s generational. The old-school clients, who are in their eighties and beyond, it’s 100 percent art, and the furniture in the house is an afterthought. But with a younger generation, it’s all integrated, and is part of the trend that we see of blurring the boundaries between art, design, fashion, even what we do in entertainment. That is a primary characteristic of where we are right now, which I’m very enthusiastic about.
Is there more recent work that you either see people gravitating toward, or hear about from curious clients?
Hantman: The Lalannes are a great example of designers who transcended the category of design. There are artists like Katherine Bernhardt, who’s known for her paintings, but she makes incredible furniture; Dan John Anderson, who worked for Alma Allen and wanted to go beyond sculpture and create functional sculpture; Jorge Pardo, who built the space my gallery inhabits. It requires a bit of that risk, which is part of being a tastemaker. There’s an amazing quote by Paul Valéry: “Taste is made by a thousand disgusts.”
Deitch: Here in Los Angeles, there are a number of artists and designers in this hybrid category. Last year, I did a suite of three solo exhibitions with Peter Shire, one of the only American members of Memphis, and then the Haas Brothers, who had become very successful and influential, who are increasingly showing in the context of art galleries and art museums rather than the design world. And then a more kind of do-it-yourself design aesthetic, which is very big here, with Sonya Sombreuil. And Jorge Pardo, who used to live in Los Angeles, probably more than anyone else is the one who opened all this up, where it wasn’t just showing his painting, or his sculpture, or his design—it was all together. [ Read More]
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Prada family values: Despite all the uncertainty surrounding the Prada Group’s acquisition of Versace— Trump’s tariffs and the bond markets were screwing everything up—the deal finally went through yesterday. The press release indicated that the cash offer of €1.25 billion ($1.4 billion) would be “subject to adjustments at closing.” But that’s right around the ~€1.5 billion price that had been whispered during the past few weeks. In the end, Capri’s weather-beaten C.E.O., John Idol, got his deal, and will be able to use the cash to help fund the turnaround of Michael Kors.
Investors did not initially respond well to the news, however, with Capri’s stock dipping around 13 percent as trading opened, before crawling back up over the ensuing couple of hours. Analysts, meanwhile, were more bullish: Simeon Siegel over at BMO gave Capri an outperform rating, noting that the flip from net debt to net cash was “not yet being reflected in shares and represents a compelling opportunity beyond the specific announcement event.”
Over at the Prada Group, this potentially transformative move could have ripple effects across the industry. The company, which is currently listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, also saw its stock price dip about 6 percent in after-hours trading. The acquisition of Versace—a business that generates less than $1 billion annually in sales—might not move the overall needle, but this will almost inevitably shift the power dynamic in Europe, where Prada continues to grow as the majority of its competitors shrink.
Meanwhile, the deal might also signal the beginning of Lorenzo Bertelli’s ascendance. The 36-year-old son of Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada—and currently their only child entrenched in the business—has been groomed to take over the company sooner than later. And yet, the industry is much different from when his parents first attempted (and failed) to build an empire back in the ’90s. Can Bertelli fils avoid the same fate? [ Read More]
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