🩱 Speedo Made the Most High-Tech Swimsuit Ever, Then It Was Banned

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An interesting trend is emerging in the NBA: owners are selling majority stakes in their teams while retaining governing rights.

It happened with Cuban in the Mavericks in 2023, Wyc Grousbeck and the Celtics in 2024, and it just happened again with Jeanie Buss and the Lakers.

So, in case any prospective NBA team owners read this newsletter, I’d happily run your team for free!

In today’s newsletter:

🗞 The Big Story: How Playing a Video Game Can Help Your Favorite Team Earn Thousands of Dollars

📉 Biggest Loser: Speedo Made the Most High-Tech Swimsuit Ever, Then It Was Banned

🏆 Winner’s Circle: Meet the Most High-Tech Flip Flops Ever Created

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🗞 The Big Story

You can now help your favorite college football team win a National Championship just by playing a video game. Let me explain.

EA CFB 25 Success: Less than a week after launching College Football 25 last year, EA Sports had already sold 5 million deluxe copies of the game for $100 each, helping the company generate a record-breaking $500 million in revenue in just 7 days.

Now, this number was shocking, even for EA, which, according to one report, had only expected to make around $150M from the game. That’s why this year they decided to spend a little bit more money on College Football 26, but they’re doing it in the coolest way possible.

Old Compensation Structure: First, it’s important to note that last year, schools were paid for their inclusion in the game based on a four-tier system.

Schools in the top tier received a flat payment of nearly $100,000; meanwhile, schools in the bottom tier received less than $10,000 each.

• Tier 1: $99,875.16

• Tier 2: $59,925.09

• Tier 3: $39,950.06

• Tier 4: $9,987.52

In total, EA paid universities about $5 million for their usage rights, and while that total isn’t increasing this year, the way schools are getting paid is.

New Compensation System: According to newly released documents, starting in July, all 136 FBS schools that opted into the game will be compensated based on the number of games played with their teams.

For example, if a school like Alabama is used in 10% of all games played, then it would receive a 10% share of the $5 million pool of money, which amounts to $500,000 and can be used to pay coaches, players, or even upgrade facilities.

And while it’s true that schools like Alabama don’t need the extra half million dollars, just think of what even a fraction of that money could do for a school like Kent State, which made less than $10,000 from last year’s arrangement.

The Impact: As some fans are already pointing out, if they can commit to playing even just 1% of all games with a small program like Kent State, then they could effectively 5x the university’s payout from the game, which could help them attract talent to their program next season.

That being said, even just 1% of all games played for College Football 26 might still be 7 million total games, so you guys better get to work.

📉 Biggest Loser

This is the most high-tech swimsuit ever created, but not for the reason you might think.

Swimsuit Evolution: From the moment swimming became an Olympic sport in the early 1900s, the primary concern when designing a swimsuit was modesty. However, as the sport evolved, racers quickly realized that wearing a tightly fitting full-body suit could actually help them swim faster.

That’s why by 2004, Speedo was partnering with NASA and multiple universities to study how they could make their already record-breaking swimsuits even faster, and what they stumbled on completely broke the sport of swimming (at least temporarily).

In the Lab: After putting their latest Fastskin swimsuit design through a series of tests, scientists at Speedo identified the three biggest factors that slowed a swimmer down during a race:

• Body weight

• Fatigue

• Water friction

And since water friction accounted for about 25% of those total forces, Speedo started by testing over 100 different fabrics in a NASA wind tunnel, eventually settling on a high-density weave of nylon and spandex.

This combination of fabrics alone helped reduce water friction by 24% as compared to normal skin. However, scientists then coated the suit in a new type of water-repellent material that helped reduce water absorption from 50% down to just 2%, making it significantly lighter than any other suit on the market.

But that’s not even the coolest part.

Perfecting the Swimsuit: Because not only was the suit designed to have an extra, compressive layer around a swimmer’s core (shown above) to help limit fatigue of their back and ab muscles, but each one of those gray pannels you see on the suit’s torso and legs is made from a special kind of material called polyurethane.

Not only is it one of the best materials at reducing water friction, but it’s so waterproof that it actually traps little air bubbles on the underside of a swimmer's body, effectively making it easier for them to float.

The only issue with this material is that it wears down extremely quickly, which meant that at the time Speedos' new $550 LZR Swimsuits could only be worn 10 times before they had to be replaced.

And that wasn’t even their biggest problem.

Technological Doping: Within 6 months of professional athletes wearing these things, 62 world records had already been broken. In fact, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 23 of the 25 world records set were by swimmers wearing this suit, including the 7 set by Michael Phelps.

This led racing officals and athletes alike, including Phelps, to call for the suits ban on the basis of “technological doping” and by 2009, just one year after the suit was released, FINA, the governing body of swimming, voted to ban all full-body swimsuits for both men and women, specifically the ones made out of this new LZR material.

So much for modesty, I guess…

🏆 Winner’s Circle

These flip-flops help solve three of the most common injuries in the entire world, so why aren’t more people talking about them?

Background: Sandals are the oldest form of footwear ever created, with the first known pair dating back over 10,000 years. However, what started as a practical protective layer, custom-made from leather or wood, eventually turned into a cheap, mass-produced, one-size-fits-all accessory that’s actively hurting our feet.

Which is why footwear company Vivobarefoot created they’re new Tabi sandal.

Now, on the surface, the Tabi just looks like some weird, futuristic flip-flop, but it’s actually one of the most high-tech pieces of footwear ever created.

The Benefits: For starters, each Tabi sandal is 3D printed based on the specific measurements and pressure points of each person’s foot.

This allows Vivobarefoot to create a sandal that’s wider, thinner, and more flexible than most mass-produced flip flops, which allows your toes to fully spread out into their natural position, helping to improve your:

• Balance

• Posture

• Agility

• Foot strength

You’ll also notice that these sandals are designed with a separate big-toe slot. This is intentional, as your big toe is actually responsible for a lot of your foot’s overall strength, stability, and gait efficiency.

However, I think the thing that shocked me the most about these 3D printed flip-flops, is the claim that wearing them for just 6 months can increase your foot strength by 60%, and since your feet are no longer being crammed into one-size-fits-all sandals, Vivobarefoot also says that you’re decreasing your likliehood of common ailments like:

• Bunions

• Plantar fasciitis

• Arthritis

Which literally affect hundreds of millions of people every year.

Limited Supply: As of now, Vivobarefoot states they’re only producing 590 pairs of the Tabi, which have already sold out at £140 ($188 USD).

Not to mention, you can only get your feet scanned by Vivobarefoot at one of their two locations in England, so it might be a while before most people can get them.

⏱️ In Other News

• Should the Bengals’ 2025 first-round pick re-enter the 2026 NFL Draft?

• Jeanie Buss accepts an offer that’s too good to pass up.

• Private equity has arrived in college sports.

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👋🏻 Happy Friday!

I’m officially a married man, shoutout to our photographer - she was incredible! Here’s one of my favorites…