🥩 Does Texas have too much BBQ?

Las Vegas’ giant $2.3B sphere is officially open

Sphere Entertainment opens its latest venue — also called Sphere — in Las Vegas today. And much like everyone’s iTunes library in 2014, it’s coming with U2.

Even a cynic must admit the giant orb looks pretty cool. At 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide, it is the largest spherical structure on Earth, per Yahoo Finance. Its exterior, which has featured visuals of pumpkins, a giant eyeball, fireworks, and more, can be seen from a plane. It also:

• Took four years to build
• Cost an estimated $2.3B
• Fits 20k guests (or 17.6k seated)
• Features a 580k-square-foot LED exterior, a 160k-square-foot LED interior, and 160k+ speakers

The guest experience is also heavy on tech: it doesn’t take cash, and has free WiFi, phone charging stations, and uncanny valley robot guides.

After U2’s 25-show run — for which the band is being paid a reported $10m, plus 90% of ticket sales, per Bloomberg — the venue will feature Postcard from Earth, an immersive film from The Whale director Darren Aronosfky, with tickets starting at $49.

Who built this thing?

James Dolan, the controversial CEO of MSG Entertainment — you may remember when he used facial recognition tech to ban his enemies from his venues — and son of Cablevision founder Charles Dolan.

He told Bloomberg Sphere’s sound system could “blow your ears out” and is so crisp, you’ll hear musicians’ every mistake. But that’s not all:

• The seats replicate human skin for consistent sound, regardless of how many guests are present.
• It has vibrating seats, and scent, wind, and temperature tech for deeper immersion.

All told, it sounds pretty intense, but… also like it might just be amazing if tourists are willing to fork over the cash.

Fun fact: Dolan says he was inspired by Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt,” which features a nursery that can display hyperrealistic scenes. But it’s also a bloody short story about a family that becomes too reliant on technology.

Why businesses should obsess over providing value

We’ve always been a mission-driven business — and few can speak to that better than Kipp, a 10-year HubSpot veteran.

He serves up wise guidelines for anyone in the trenches of generating revenue. Here are seven strategies HubSpot used to double down on inbound marketing and climb from $10m to $1.7B in annual sales — like daring to be zestfully different, and investing in schemes with 10x potential.

Click below to bump this episode of Nudge on your favorite podcast platform. And drop a follow for more behavioral science insights.

GameStop named billionaire Ryan Cohen, the company’s largest individual investor, as its new CEO. Cohen will not receive compensation for his roles as president, CEO, and chairman.

PlayStation and Sony Interactive Entertainment head Jim Ryan will retire in March 2024 after 30 years. Why? The pandemic made him realize he’s tired of constantly traveling for work.

Epic Games, maker of the popular video game “Fortnite,” is laying off 870 employees, ~16% of its workforce.

Peloton and Lululemon announced a five-year partnership, ending their feud. Lululemon will stop selling its $995 Mirror fitness device, instead relying on Peloton-produced fitness classes; Peloton will reduce the production of its own clothes and use Lululemon as its primary apparel provider.

Reddit will no longer allow its users to opt out of personalized ads. While users won’t be able to control the app’s activity tracking, they can request to see fewer ads in specific categories, like gambling, alcohol, weight loss, and dating.

Indonesia banned ecommerce sales on social media platforms — a bummer for TikTok and its TikTok Shop endeavors — to protect its IRL retailers and users’ personal data.

After riling SkyMiles members by moving elite status and airport lounge access further out of reach, Delta CEO Ed Bastian has promised to modify the airline’s loyalty program changes.

Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue

Sometimes local media just fits:

• Los Angeles Magazine has a “Cannabis” section atop its site.
• The South Florida Sun Sentinel prominently features a “Storms & Hurricanes” beat.
• And Texas Monthly takes great pride in its BBQ coverage.

Of course it does. Nothing evokes Texan life quite like an overloaded plate of brisket…

… which is why one recent Texas Monthly piece, “Is Texas’s Barbecue Bubble Ready to Burst?,” absolutely floored us.

Are we entering a BBQ recession?

Not quite. Texan restaurants that had been printing money are just coming back to Earth now.

• Shop owners in the state reported dwindling lines and 20%+ sales dips this summer.

A market that was impervious to gravity is meeting it in the form of:

• It’s too dang hot: Restaurants blame high temperatures for keeping people away. Put more artfully in Texas Monthly: “A heavy meal of smoked meat feels less than refreshing when it’s 110 degrees.”
• A “broken” system: As every business owner on Earth right now knows, operating expenses have ballooned — labor costs have risen, sure, but so have the raw costs of high-quality meats. After customers complained of high prices, one restaurateur explained how far a 15-pound brisket purchased at $5.45/lb could go. (Hint: not far.)
• A flooded market: Texas, its major markets fully saturated with well-regarded BBQ joints, is wrestling with a basic supply-demand issue.

The rush to join the BBQ bubble has now yielded a different kind of heat: the pressure to survive its burst.

Speaking of heat… Leaving the house to pick up a plate of links on a hot day sucks, but just imagine making them. Pit rooms, where meats cook at high temps for hours, reportedly reached 130 degrees Fahrenheit during this summer’s hottest days.

Kick up your feet, pour yourself a cold one (we were thinking beer or lemonade, but sure, milk is fine if that’s your thing?), and cozy up to catch our channel’s latest and greatest:

• Pay your respects to Ikea’s trickery: Six out of 10 purchases at the furniture giant are impulse buys. How does the store trick us into buying more? Come bask in Swedish craftsmanship and craftiness.
• Learn the moneymaking magic of email: How can us fat cats in Email City afford to live lavishly, just from gumming up your inbox? We’ll show you how newsletters become million-dollar businesses — and we’ll do it in just three minutes.
• How the economics of dollar stores work: Dollar Tree and Dollar General boast a combined ~40k US locations and rake in billion-dollar revenues, despite selling items for as little as $1. It begs the question: Are these stores really as wallet-friendly for consumers as we think they are?
• Debunk the myth of latte-ing away your future: Consider the 21st century’s most ubiquitous piece of financial advice: “Can’t afford a house? Just stop buying lattes.” What makes this idea so enduring? Where did it come from? And why is it so wrong?

🚃 On this day: In 1885, the UK’s first electric tram service, Blackpool Tramway, opened.

🪙 How to: Make a coin disappear.

🖼️ That’s interesting: The British Museum launched a website to recover stolen items. It’s unclear how many missing items there are, but 60 have been returned with 300 more expected.

🤔 Also interesting: This essay argues that there’s no such thing as an ethical museum.

🐕 Aww: And now, a little ear wiggle.