David Dayen
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David Dayen
@ddayen.bsky.social
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Executive editor, The American Prospect. Author, Chain of Title and Monopolized. Tips at ddayen-at-prospect-dot-org or Signal at ddayen.90
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 7d
You can see our entire series on The Business of Sports at
prospect.org/sports. More to come in the days ahead!
Sports - The American Prospect
prospect.org
ddayen.bsky.social
The NBA owns 42% of the league and there's a clear cross-subsidy, it's not hard to make things look like a loss
February 10, 2026 at 4:46 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
As ICE and CBP testify in Congress, we have updated our tracker of deaths at the hands of immigration enforcers. 25 have been killed with another 18 seriously injured, and there have also been 44 deaths in ICE/CBP custody.
Wondering if this will come up at the hearing.
prospect.org/2026/01/29/i...
A Running Count of How Many People ICE Has Killed and Injured - The American Prospect
ICE is not required to report any use-of-force incidents against the public. So The American Prospect created our own running tally.
prospect.org
February 10, 2026 at 3:53 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
Between crypto, private credit, and AI, risks of another financial crash are prominent. Having a Trump sycophant at the Fed likely means that crash will lead to rewarding friends and punishing enemies. From Bob Kuttner.
prospect.org/2026/02/10/t...
The Next Financial Collapse - The American Prospect
In the coming crisis, the Fed is not likely to be in good hands.
prospect.org
February 10, 2026 at 2:48 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
Utah's packing its court.
Virginia posted new maps in defiance of a judicial order.
Maryland's Senate is resisting a redraw while the House embraces it.
Trump's gerrymandering demand will be largely a wash but it has opened a Pandora's box, @gurleygg.bsky.social writes.
prospect.org/2026/02/10/r...
America Sinks Into the Quicksand of Mid-Decade Redistricting - The American Prospect
After the Texas-California stalemate, predicting an outcome to this debacle is futile.
prospect.org
February 10, 2026 at 2:43 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
Illinois
February 10, 2026 at 2:29 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
Lots more in here how Marvin Miller reshaped sports unions at the MLBPA, how the average player and not the star needs a union and why that harms solidarity, the insane saga of the NFL players union, and more. Great piece.
prospect.org/2026/02/10/f...
Baselines and Picket Lines - The American Prospect
Superstar athletes are close to American royalty, but they still have to fight like other workers for fair pay.
prospect.org
February 10, 2026 at 2:27 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
The average WNBA salary is $102,000/year; a max salary is $250,000. No health insurance after retirement.
Yet attendance is way up, ticket prices nearly doubled in 2024, & media contracts quadrupled.
The economics of women's basketball literally puts players in danger. prospect.org/2026/02/10/f...
The meager salaries for WNBA stars have forced many to get second jobs in the offseason. The most notorious example of this is six-time All-Star Brittney Griner, whose side hustle took her annually to a Russian pro league. Before a flight to a game in 2022, law enforcement in Moscow found a vape cartridge in her possession with less than a gram of hash oil, something she had been prescribed in the U.S. as a pain reliever. Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison for this transgression, and was only released when the Biden administration negotiated a prisoner swap for convicted arms smuggler Viktor Bout, known as “The Merchant of Death.” In a very real way, Bout is a free man who continues to trade weapons of war today because the WNBA doesn’t pay its players satisfactorily.
February 10, 2026 at 2:27 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
NBA, NFL, MLB, & NHL players make around 50% of total league revenues. WNBA players make 9%. Their demand for 30%, still a bargain, has been rebuffed by owners, who offered 15%.
As Harold Meyerson writes, sports unions have always struggled for a fair share of the enormous profits they generate.
Baselines and Picket Lines - The American Prospect
Superstar athletes are close to American royalty, but they still have to fight like other workers for fair pay.
prospect.org
February 10, 2026 at 2:19 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
AIPAC was initially looking at a different candidate in IL07, Jason Friedman. He was seen as "too obviously aligned." Conyears Ervin has less defined views for the electorate. The UDP spots are all positive bio spots.
February 10, 2026 at 3:29 AM
ddayen.bsky.social
No
February 10, 2026 at 2:55 AM
ddayen.bsky.social
This is in Illinois' 7th congressional district.
Already AIPAC (through shell PACs and past donors) is in IL08 (supporting Melissa Bean), IL09 (supporting Laura Fine) and IL02 (supporting Donna Miller)
February 10, 2026 at 2:45 AM
ddayen.bsky.social
Just learned that AIPAC has now jumped into a fourth open seat House race in Illinois, backing Melissa Conyears Ervin with what has been described as a $2.8 million buy (around $500k a week).
This is straight up AIPAC, not a shell PAC, through United Democracy Project.
February 10, 2026 at 2:43 AM
ddayen.bsky.social
MAGA lobbyists are demanding that Trump's antitrust division settle the monopolization case against Live Nation/Ticketmaster. The top lawyers in the department don't want to do it. So now the #2 at DOJ Antitrust just quit.
Mark Hamer, #2 at DOJ antitrust, quits.
February 10, 2026 at 12:01 AM
Reposted by David Dayen
ruhee.ca
No Kings includes Draft Kings
February 8, 2026 at 11:49 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
We got the pitch deck that public-private partnership Freedom 250 is using to sell access to corporations to Trump in conjunction with the semiquincentennial. $1 million and up gets you a private reception with the president. Read the deck here:
prospect.org/2026/02/09/r...
Read Trump’s Pitch Deck for Selling America’s Birthday - The American Prospect
Freedom 250 is urging donors to repeat far-right Christian nationalist and anti-abortion talking points.
prospect.org
February 9, 2026 at 11:02 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
Look at this cute new milkshake duck, trying to save Democrats from their excesses.
Update: we regret to inform you that the milkshake duck is a registered lobbyist for OpenAI.
lda.gov/filings/publ...
February 9, 2026 at 10:29 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
The trade of "reforms" to ICE for funding for the Department of Homeland Security looks more and more like it's off the table, Bob Kuttner reports.
prospect.org/2026/02/09/r...
Republican Frostbite - The American Prospect
Defense of ICE has become a political loser, and the deal to trade reforms for continued funding is off the table.
prospect.org
February 9, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Reposted by David Dayen
jamieson.bsky.social
A federal worker at the CFPB found out in December that she had a brain tumor that needed to be removed.

The next month, Russ Vought unilaterally ended her agency's short-term disability plan.
www.huffpost.com/entry/russel...
A Federal Worker Developed A Brain Tumor. The Trump Admin's Next Move Was Unspeakably Cruel.
Russell Vought is seizing every opportunity he can to dismantle a crucial watchdog agency.
www.huffpost.com
February 9, 2026 at 8:09 PM
Reposted by David Dayen
whitneycwimbish.bsky.social
The Trump admin made a pitch deck for corporate sponsors to take over America's 250th birthday.
s3.documentcloud.org
February 9, 2026 at 8:06 PM
Reposted by David Dayen
sesmith.lol
Very annoyed at the people who decided to open the floodgates to online sports betting, it is absolutely a scourge. Great piece from Gabrielle Gurley on people spending hours a day on these predatory apps.
The Scourge of Online Sports Betting - The American Prospect
States and leagues must face up to the damage from app-based gambling for the next generation of bettors, most of them young men.
prospect.org
February 9, 2026 at 4:52 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
I am pretty used to corporate self-interest, but even I'm shocked by what Ellen Ioanes dug up about the Board of Peace and its designs in Gaza.
prospect.org/2026/02/09/b...
Board of Peace Is a Board of Profits - The American Prospect
Corporate interests dominate the organization planning the reconstruction of Gaza.
prospect.org
February 9, 2026 at 3:50 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
There's way too much nonchalance about the fact that California is hurtling toward electing a MAGA governor, even if 65% of its voters vote for a Democrat in the primary. Harold Meyerson reports on the top-two primary setting conditions for an election at odds with voter preference.
The Nation’s Most Democratic State Might Elect a Trump-Friendly Governor - The American Prospect
California’s nonpartisan primary pits eight Democrats against two Republicans; only the top two finishers advance. Do the math.
prospect.org
February 9, 2026 at 2:46 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
There's lots more in the story. It's an example of a rare labor success, ending a grossly inequitable work imbalance—and the demands of the beneficiaries of that work imbalance to restore the status quo.
Read it!
prospect.org/2026/02/09/f...
How Congress Refused to Save the NCAA From Itself - The American Prospect
Colleges want exemptions from antitrust and labor laws, so they can continue to hoard billions in cash from sports and deny the players their rights. So far, they’ve failed.
prospect.org
February 9, 2026 at 2:27 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
It's good that this failed. But the latest concept for the NCAA to "innovate" their way out of reining in their own profligacy is selling off to private equity. prospect.org/2026/02/09/f...
The Big Ten spent the fall negotiating a $2.4 billion deal with UC Investments, the University of California’s pension fund. In exchange for the money, UC Investments would receive a 10 percent stake in a new for-profit entity called Big Ten Enterprises, which would control the conference’s media rights and sponsorship deals. Schools would also extend their media rights contracts through 2046, binding them to the conference for two more decades. The deal promised immediate cash infusions averaging $135 million per school, but the details were troubling. Unlike the Big Ten’s traditional equal revenue sharing, this deal would create a tiered distribution system that favored Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State over the other 15 universities. The deal process was also remarkably opaque. Trustees at multiple Big Ten schools said they were denied access to key details about the proposal. USC and Michigan balked, even amid allegations that the Big Ten threatened penalties if they refused to support the plan. Both schools lack permanent presidents and have powerful boards demanding accountability. Michigan regent Jordan Acker went so far as to suggest the Wolverines might consider football independence when the current grant of rights expires in 2036. UC Investments eventually paused the deal, saying it would not proceed without “unity” among all 18 member schools. But the appetite for outside investment hasn’t disappeared. The University of Utah’s board recently approved a proposal to give private equity firm Otro Capital a minority stake in its new for-profit arm, Utah Brands and Entertainment, the first deal of its kind in college athletics. Utah’s conference, the Big 12, is in talks with a private equity–backed investment firm called Collegiate Athletic Solutions for a $500 million capital infusion that involves future revenue sharing. Another firm, Elevate, has raised $500 million to invest in athletic departments, aiming to transform college football into a “premium experience” comparable to F1 racing. Meanwhile, other investors want to create a super league that would put college football’s biggest brands under a single roof, excluding most of the smaller schools currently eligible for the CFP. Given how unhappy big programs like Notre Dame were about being left out of this year’s bracket while Tulane and James Madison got in, the idea may gain traction.
February 9, 2026 at 2:27 PM
ddayen.bsky.social
The SCORE Act, which was stymied this winter, would have given the NCAA immunity from antitrust laws. The NCAA could have this power if they agreed to respect their players' labor rights, but they won't do that, either.
prospect.org/2026/02/09/f...
The absurdity of the SCORE Act is underscored by the fact that an antitrust exemption is already available to the NCAA. If schools would recognize college athletes as employees, or simply consent to players organizing into unions the way professional athletes in all major American sports leagues do, they could collectively bargain salary caps, limits on NIL collectives, transfer and eligibility rules, scholarship guarantees, health and safety provisions, and all the other terms and conditions of participating in college athletics. The resulting agreement, just like the CBAs in the professional leagues, would be protected from antitrust challenges by labor exemptions that have existed for over a century. Perhaps even more important to the schools, the NCAA and athletes could reach agreement on enforceable anti-circumvention rules, like those that exist in the NBA (the kind that L.A. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is currently accused of violating). That would prevent billionaire alumni from creating the pay-to-play problems that are plaguing the transfer portal. But the NCAA is a calcified organization, and it refuses to recognize athletes as employees. It refuses to let them organize. It refuses to negotiate. Instead, the NCAA and its members pleaded to Congress for a nearly unprecedented exemption from antitrust laws that would give them free rein over a multibillion-dollar industry.
February 9, 2026 at 2:27 PM