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.

Mary Berg is many things — MasterChef Canada winner, beloved celebrity chef, host of CTV’s The Good Stuff — but now she can add “unwilling star of a crypto scam” to her resume.

What happened: All month, X users have been bombarded with ads about a fake scandal involving Berg.

The Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix happens tonight on the Las Vegas Strip. It’s F1’s glitziest, costliest event of the year — it also looks destined to be its biggest disappointment. 

Driving the news: Like countless Vegas visitors, F1 owner Liberty Group miscalculated a risky bet. The company lowered its profit expectations after ticket sales severely missed expectations, despite being the most expensive of any Grand Prix race this season. 

Like us signing up for beer league hockey, Netflix is dipping its toes into sports just to see how things play out.  

What happened: If you flipped on Netflix last night, you probably noticed a live broadcast of something called The Netflix Cup, the streamer’s first-ever live sporting event. 

After a year of unforced errors and double faults, Canadian tennis is on the come-up. 

Driving the news: Over the weekend, Team Canada brought home its first-ever Billie Jean King Cup title. The squad conquered the most prestigious team tournament in women’s tennis on the back of 21-year-old phenom Leylah Fernandez, who finished undefeated. 

The opera world, worried that audiences have become disenchanted with burly men in funny costume singing very loudly, is trying out new strategies to get butts back in theatre seats.

Driving the news: Eighty-five opera companies across Canada and the U.S. have joined a discount program run by industry group Opera America, in which a subscription to one of the participating companies will also grant you the same perks at every participating company.

Do you hear that? It’s the sound of keyboards clacking, pens scribbling, and overpriced latte orders echoing across the Sunset Strip... which can only mean Hollywood writers are back. 

What happened: After 148 days on the picket line, Hollywood writers are returning to the word factory today after board members of the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) voted to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement with studios and streamers.

Usually, when we talk about Tiff’s troubles, it’s about Tiff Macklem’s ongoing battle with Canadian inflation. Today, however, we’re looking at a different TIFF: The Toronto International Film Festival. 

What happened: Over 200 actors, directors, and other entertainment industry professionals signed an open letter to TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey asking for the festival to drop RBC as a sponsor due to what they claim is the bank’s “colossal” funding of the oil and gas industry. 

For artists who don’t change the economic outlook of a city with a couple of concerts, some extra money from a new royalty deal could go a long way. 

Driving the news: Universal Music—the world’s largest record company—has cut a deal with French streaming service Deezer to change the way royalties are paid to artists, a move that could be the first domino to fall in the reshaping of music streaming’s business model.