🏀 The Caitlin Clark effect

…and China flies a Boeing rival 🏀 The Caitlin Clark effect (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) Dunkin’ on ratings   Sponsored by Yesterday's market moves Dow Jones 38,893 (-0.03%) S&P 500 5,202 (-0.04%) Nasdaq 16,254 (+0.03%) Bitcoin $71,677 (+3.30%) Dow Jones 38,893 (-0.03%) S&P 500 5,202 (-0.04%) Nasdaq 16,254 (+0.03%) Bitcoin $71,677 (+3.30%) Hey Snackers, Breaking news! Sherwood Media (that’s us) just launched a new site that aims to redefine financial storytelling. Say hello to [Sherwood News](, a super-scrollable hub for stories about markets, business, tech, and the culture of money. You’ll find [Snacks coverage]( plus a trove of other gems, from original reporting to eye-popping charts. [Check out Sherwood]( — and our newsletter’s new look 💅. Stocks closed mostly flat yesterday as investors waited for tomorrow’s consumer-inflation report. Strong US economic data has led traders to [shrink]( their bets on the likelihood of a June rate cut to just over 50%.   MVP [Iowa State's Final Four matchup was ESPN’s most-watched basketball game ever as women’s sports shatter records]( She shoots, she scores… Caitlin Clark and the Iowa State squad lost the NCAA women’s-basketball championship to South Carolina on Sunday, but they took home the gold for ESPN. The US’s leading sports network [said]( a record 14.2M people saw Iowa take down UConn on Friday. The women’s Final Four matchup was the most-watched bball game in ESPN’s 45-year history. - The women’s Final Four game beat an ESPN viewership record set in 2018 during Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals between the Cleveland Cavs and Boston Celtics. Come for the game… stay for the TikTok edits. Women’s sports are having a viral moment as younger gens tune in more than ever before. Just over half of American adults spent some time watching or following women’s sports in the past year. For years, women athletes’ pay and sponsorships have trailed men’s, and the games didn’t usually draw as much ad spend. But as viewership soars, media coverage of women’s sports has nearly tripled since 2019, and more $$ is pouring in: - ESPN owner [Disney]( said it sold out of ad spots for this year’s women’s March Madness Final Four and championship rounds, doubling women’s-tournament revenue from last year. - Paid out: In January, ESPN and the NCAA renewed their broadcast deal for another eight years, valuing the women’s tournament at $65M/yr — 10X more than the current deal. The Takeaway More money, more growth… Deloitte expects that women's elite-sports revenue will top $1B for the first time this year. That’s 4X more than three years ago. Women’s pro-sports sponsorships are up 22% over the past year, and Clark’s [$3.4M]( in NIL deals makes her the second top-earning college-basketball player (after Bronny James) thanks to A-list sponsors like [Nike]( and [Gatorade](. [Sponsored by RAD AI]( Invest in This AI Start-Up Dubbed ‘Game-Changing Tech’ by Fortune 1000 Execs* Meet the AI startup that is disrupting the $633B content and data industry. [RAD AI]( is helping brands create content that lands with their target customer and most importantly, delivers outsized ROI. All eyes on AI… Cisco just spent $28B on its largest AI acquisition ever, and Reddit’s move to license data for AI has single-handedly re-energized the IPO market. That's the market power of AI… As for RAD, the [potential is evident by the numbers](: - $27M raised since 2018 from 6,500+ investors, including VCs, and execs at Google, Amazon and Meta. - ~3X revenue growth from 2022 to 2023 — while landing major clients, including Hasbro, Skechers, Sweetgreen, and more. - Leadership has 5 exits between them. [The investment round closes this month — but you can still get in here.](** [Sponsored by RAD AI]( Invest in This AI Start-Up Dubbed ‘Game-Changing Tech’ by Fortune 1000 Execs* Meet the AI startup that is disrupting the $633B content and data industry. [RAD AI]( is helping brands create content that lands with their target customer and most importantly, delivers outsized ROI. All eyes on AI… Cisco just spent $28B on its largest AI acquisition ever, and Reddit’s move to license data for AI has single-handedly re-energized the IPO market. That's the market power of AI… As for RAD, the [potential is evident by the numbers](: - $27M raised since 2018 from 6,500+ investors, including VCs, and execs at Google, Amazon and Meta. - ~3X revenue growth from 2022 to 2023 — while landing major clients, including Hasbro, Skechers, Sweetgreen, and more. - Leadership has 5 exits between them. [The investment round closes this month — but you can still get in here.](**   BEIJET [China aims to break the jet-making duopoly with a plane to rival Boeing and Airbus]( Comac on the tarmac… The market for commercial aircraft is a duopoly dominated by American [Boeing]( and European [Airbus](. But as Boeing’s blues cause delivery setbacks for airlines, aspiring rivals have more runway. Cue: this year a Chinese competitor made its [international debut](. Meet Comac (aka: the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China), a state-owned planemaker that China hopes will one day rival Boeing and Airbus with its C919. - Jet set: In February the C919 flew outside Chinese territory for the first time in a flyby at the Singapore Airshow. FYI: it’s so far certified to fly passengers in mainland China only. - The C919 had its first commercial flight last year for China Eastern Airlines, flying passengers from Shanghai to Beijing. The jet can carry up 192 passengers, about the same as Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’ A320. China Eastern Airlines has five C919s. Boeing left a hole… and we’re not talkin’ about the sealed door that yeeted off a 737 mid-flight. Its woes have left a gap in the market, and airlines are struggling to get their hands on jets to meet booming travel demand. As Boeing faces growing FAA scrutiny and a DOJ criminal investigation, Airbus has widened its jet-delivering lead. There’s also more room for newbies like Comac to gain a foothold in the passenger-aircraft market, which has an extremely high barrier to entry (making commercial planes = v complicated). - TL;DR: “The Chinese are exploiting the shortage of aircraft in the marketplace,” aviation analyst Shukor Yusof [told]( Sherwood. - Still: It’s widely believed in the industry that the overall quality of the C919 doesn’t hold up to comparable models from Airbus and Boeing (for one thing, Comac’s plane is much heavier — read: less efficient). The Takeaway High barriers take time… Comac has lotsa hurdles to fly over before it can hope to compete against the Boeing-Airbus duopoly, with their decades of experience in the skies. The C919 has been certified to fly in China only, though Comac said it plans to seek EU certification this year. Plus, since American companies account for the bulk of the C919’s parts suppliers, Comac could face setbacks if the US imposes more sanctions on China. [Read more at Sherwood](.   What else we're Snackin' - [Interest’ing](: The White House announced a plan that would cancel “runaway” student-loan interest and forgive up to $20K of it per borrower. President Biden’s pushing for student-debt forgiveness ahead of the election. - [FSD](: [Tesla]( settled a lawsuit over the role that Autopilot, its driver-assist tech, played in a fatal crash (FYI: the trial had been set to start this week). Regulators said Autopilot can give drivers a false sense of security. - [Achoo](: Kleenex maker [Kimberly-Clark]( is selling its personal protective equipment biz (think: gloves, eyewear) for $640M. Hospitals stocked up on PPE during the pandemic but sales have slumped. - [Hearted](: [Meta]( split out Instagram’s revenue for the first time. In 2021 the ’Gram generated $32B+ in ad revenue — nearly 30% of Meta’s total and 12% more than [Alphabet](’s YouTube made that year. - [Arenomics](: Sports stadium names are multimillion-dollar ad opps that reflect their economic times. Retail and tech have bought more naming rights since the early ’00s, while food and bev scaled back during the pandemic.   Snack Fact of the Day d[A total solar eclipse is visible from somewhere on Earth about every year and a half](   Tuesday - Earnings expected from WD-40 and Tilray Brands Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Alphabet, Disney, and Tesla Advertiser's disclosures: *Executives are also advisory board members and clients of RAD AI. **This is a paid advertisement for RAD AI’s Regulation CF offering. Please read the offering circular and related risks at [invest.radintel.ai](. Equity crowdfunding investments in private placements, and start-up investments in particular, are speculative and illiquid. They involve a high degree of risk and those investors who cannot afford to lose their entire investment should not invest in start-ups.   [Instagram]( [Twitter]( [Sherwood Logo] Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... [See more]( [Sherwood Terms and Conditions]( [Our Editorial Standards]( [Contact Us](mailto:hellosnacks@sherwood.news) [Advertise With Us](mailto:advertising@sherwoodmedia.com) [Unsubscribe]( [Privacy Policy](