Canadian screenwriters are making moves towards a possible strike. (But don’t worry, it won’t impact your favourite Canadian content: this newsletter.)

Driving the news: For the first time in its 33-year history, the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) has voted to authorize a strike if it can’t reach a deal with the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) that secures things like better pay and protections against AI.

After one of its worst seasons in franchise history, Canada’s only NBA team now has the indignity of seeing one of its players kicked out of the league. 

Driving the news: Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has received a lifetime ban from the NBA after an investigation found he broke the league’s gambling rules by betting on games and, more seriously, manipulating games that he played to benefit sports bettors.

New hardest way to earn 50 grand just dropped: winning the Olympic 400-metre hurdles.

What happened: This year in Paris, track and field will be the first-ever Olympic sport to pay prize money to gold medallists. World Athletics, the governing body in charge of track and field, has set aside US$2.4 million to pay $50,000 to first-place finishers across 48 events. 

Arts and culture festivals could sadly be following the woolly mammoth trajectory — once prominent across Canada, but slowly on their way to extinction. 

Driving the news: The shockingly sudden cancellation of this year’s Just for Laughs comedy festivals in Montréal and Toronto has brought to light the dire state of the business of festivals in Canada. Everything from music fests to theatre fests are struggling.

Here's one way to really make your TFSA returns sing: Invest in Beyoncé’s next hit song. 

Driving the news: If you’re looking to brag about owning 0.01% of “Single Ladies” at your next dinner party, a startup called JKBX has launched a digital marketplace that will let you buy shares in popular songs from artists including Taylor Swift and Major Lazer.

It’s getting more and more expensive to see sweaty men jump really high these days. 

Driving the news: The average price for season tickets to the Toronto Raptors will be ~4% higher on average next season.

 On this week’s episode of Free Lunch by The Peak, we sat down with Adam Seaborn of Playmaker Capital to talk about what the streaming era means for the sports media industry. 

Like us after putting down a non-refundable deposit to book the perfect venue for a birthday party, Vancouver and Toronto are hoping that playing host will be worth it.  

Driving the news: In 2026, Vancouver and Toronto will host seven and six FIFA World Cup matches, respectively. Neither city has given an updated cost estimate since 2022, so now attention has turned to figuring out how much hosting will cost, and whether it’s worth it.

Professional athletes, they’re just like you and me: They eat, they sleep, and they hate paying taxes. 

Driving the news: Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares is in a heated face-off against the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The hockey star claims the tax body miscalculated what he owes on the US$15.3 million signing bonus he got when joining the Leafs in 2018.

Just when you thought streaming news had quieted down, something seismic happened. To misquote legendary WWE announcer Jim Ross, “Bah gawd, that’s Netflix’s music!”

What happened: Netflix inked a 10-year deal to become the official broadcaster of Monday Night Raw, paying the WWE US$500 million a year for the rights to its flagship weekly live wrestling show. The deal starts in 2025 and will cover several countries including Canada.