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Political ad spending during this midterm season is projected to be the most expensive on record, surpassing the 2022 cycle by roughly $2 billion.
Spending on connected TV, gory, which covers any television that connects to streaming apps and services, is expected to grow significantly, becoming the fastest-growing media type.
The midterm season has already seen a record early spending surge of roughly $900 million.

(L-R) Mikayla Newton and Katerra Jones, reporters with the Prince George’s County during a news broadcast on May 15, 2025 in Largo, MD.
Michael A. McCoy | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Spending on political advertisements is projected to hit a new record, with this midterm season expected to reach a total of $10.8 billion, according to advertising company AdImpact.
That number for the 2025-2026 midterm season makes it the most expensive midterm cycle in history, surpassing spending for 2021-2022, which clocked in at $8.9 billion, by more than 20%. And it’s inching close to AdImpact’s price tag for the 2024 presidential election cycle, which reached $11.2 billion.

“We anticipate record spending across all race types due to the highly competitive national environment, with congressional spending specifically set to reach new heights,” the report said.
The race to snag control of Congress this year remains close, as Republicans hope to hold onto their 53-47 majority in the Senate and their 219-212 majority in the House. Key races in battleground states could determine or flip those majorities.
This cycle’s boost is largely expected to come from the connected TV, or CTV, category, which covers any television that connects to streaming apps and services. That spending will surge to $2.5 billion, AdImpact said, growing by 2% and earning a spot as the fastest-growing media type.
Broadcast television is forecast to continue to hold the largest share of spending at 49%, and local cable and social media spending are expected to decline slightly, the report said. That comes even as legacy cable TV has been bleeding millions of subscribers each year as streaming takes over as the primary way the world watches television.
“With $2.5 billion projected, CTV is now a core marketing strategy for 2026 campaigns, offering advertisers the ability to maximize both efficiency and overall reach,” said John Link, AdImpact’s senior vice president of data.

The forms of media vary based on types of elections, though, with down-ballot campaigns more likely to invest in cable and radio than larger races, according to AdImpact.
The most spending is expected to be in California, followed by Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina, all of which have highly competitive races this cycle. Advertising on Senate races is projected to reach $2.8 billion, while spending for House races is expected to surpass $2 billion for the first time ever as Republicans aim to hold onto their majority.
The midterm season has also already seen a surge in early spending, AdImpact noted. Though the off-year spending typically only amounts to 10% to 15% of total spending, 2025 has already surpassed records, hitting roughly $900 million by Aug. 26. That’s 37% higher than the same point in 2023 and 58% higher than 2021.
This season’s surge comes amid a particularly charged election cycle. Local elections have also garnered national attention and big spending, like the New York City mayoral race between Democratic nominee and state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, which has raked in millions in campaign funds and capitalized on social media ads. More

Modelo has been America’s favourite beer ever since Bud Light enraged conservative imbibers in 2023 with a “woke” social-media campaign featuring a trans woman. Now Constellation Brands, which owns the Modelo brand in America, also finds itself a victim of the country’s rightward lurch. According to the company, Hispanic customers, who make up half its total, are staying home and drinking less as they fear being swept up in the federal government’s mass deportations. More

Modelo has been America’s favourite beer ever since Bud Light enraged conservative imbibers in 2023 with a “woke” social-media campaign featuring a trans woman. Now Constellation Brands, which owns the Modelo brand in America, also finds itself a victim of the country’s rightward lurch. According to the company, Hispanic customers, who make up half its total, are staying home and drinking less as they fear being swept up in the federal government’s mass deportations. More

A new push by states to tax the real estate of the wealthy has sparked a backlash among brokers and potential buyers, who say the taxes punish the most important local spenders.
Rhode Island’s new levy, nicknamed “The Taylor Swift Tax,” is among the most extreme. The measure imposes a new surcharge on second homes valued at more than $1 million.
Brokers say some second-home owners are considering selling and many would-be buyers are pausing their purchases.

Taylor Swift attends the 67th GRAMMY Awards on February 02, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Frazer Harrison | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

A version of this article appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
A new push by states to tax the real estate of the wealthy has sparked a backlash among brokers and potential buyers, who say the taxes punish the most important local spenders.

From tax hikes on pricey second homes in Rhode Island and Montana to Cape Cod’s proposed transfer tax on homes over $2 million and the L.A. mansion tax, state and local governments see a revenue gold mine in the pricey properties of the wealthy.
“It’s a smack in the face to people who just spend money here,” said Donna Krueger-Simmons, sales agent with Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International in Watch Hill, Rhode Island.
The tax hikes are being driven by tighter state budgets and populist anger over housing costs. States are looking to offset budget cuts expected from the new tax and spending bill in Washington. At the same time, the housing market has become a tale of two buyers, with the middle class and younger families struggling to afford homes while the luxury housing market thrives from wealthy all-cash buyers.
The solution for many states: tax the homes of the rich.

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Rhode Island’s new levy, nicknamed “The Taylor Swift Tax,” is among the most extreme. The popstar bought a beach house in the state’s elite Watch Hill community in 2013.

The measure imposes a new surcharge on second homes valued at more than $1 million. For non-primary residences, or those not occupied for more than 182 days a year, the state will charge $2.50 for every $500 in assessed value above the first $1 million. That charge is on top of existing property taxes and will add up to big increases for luxury homes in Newport, Watch Hill and other well-heeled, summer communities in the state.
Swift’s house, for instance, is assessed at around $28 million, according to local real estate records. Her current property taxes are estimated at around $201,000 a year. The new charges will add another $136,442 to her annual taxes, bringing her yearly total to $337,442 – even though locals say she rarely visits.
Real estate brokers say the increase targets the very taxpayers who already contribute the most. Wealthy second-homeowners pay hefty property taxes but don’t use many local services, since their primary residences are in New York; Boston; Palm Beach, Florida; or other locales. Their kids typically don’t attend the local schools, and they’re infrequent users of the police, fire, water and other municipal services since most stay for only 10 to 12 weeks out of the year.
“These are people who just come here for the summer, spend their money and pay their fair share of taxes,” said Krueger-Simmons. “They’re getting penalized just because they also live somewhere else.”
Brokers and longtime residents say the summer residents of Newport, Watch Hill and other seasonal beach towns are the economic engines for local businesses, restaurants and hotels.
“You’re just hurting the people who support small business,” said Lori Joyal, of the Lila Delman Compass office in Watch Hill. “You’re chasing away the people who spend most of the money in these towns.” 
Rhode Island is also hiking its conveyance tax on luxury real estate starting in October. The tax on real estate sales will be an additional $3.75 for each $500 paid above $800,000 for a real estate purchase. At the same time, the state’s steep estate tax deters many of the ultra-wealthy from living there full-time.
Brokers say some second-home owners are considering selling and many would-be buyers are pausing their purchases. While the tax hike alone isn’t expected to lead to any significant wealth flight, Joyal said potential buyers in Rhode Island are already looking at coastal towns in Connecticut as alternatives.
“It’s always about choices,” she said. “At the end of the day it’s about how they can choose to spend their discretionary dollars. Connecticut has some beautiful coastal towns without some of these other high taxes.”

FILE – In this May 27, 2013, file photo, people walk past a house owned by Taylor Swift in the village of Watch Hill in Westerly, R.I.
Dave Collins | AP

Montana has passed a similar tax. The influx of Californians and other affluent newcomers who poured into the state during Covid has led to soaring home prices and growing resentment over gentrification. Meanwhile, the state’s low income tax rate and lack of a sales tax has left it little room for revenue increases to handle the necessary increase in services.
In May, the state passed a two-tier property tax plan, lowering rates for full-time residents and raising taxes on second homes and short-term rentals. For primary residences and long-term rentals valued at or below the state’s median home price, the tax rate will be 0.76%. Homes worth more than that will face a tiered-rate system of up to 1.9% on any value over four times the median price.
The Montana Department of Revenue expects the changes, which will start next year, will hike second-home taxes by an average of 68%. Brokers say some buyers are waiting to see the tax bills next year before making any decisions about whether to buy or sell.
“I’ve heard about some buyers who have put on the brakes to wait for the dust to settle and see what happens,” said Valerie Johnson, with PureWest Christie’s International Real Estate in Bozeman, Montana.
Johnson said that while the tax was touted by legislators as hitting wealthy second-home owners, it will also hit longtime locals who own investment homes and rent them out for income.
“These are small businesses for many people,” she said.
Manish Bhatt, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, said tax hikes aimed at wealthy second-home owners may be popular politically, but they rarely make for successful or efficient tax policy. Real property tax reform should be broad based, rather than focused on taxpayers who are singled out just because they don’t live in a community full-time, he said.
“There is a grab to find revenue right now,” he said. “But taxing second-home owners could have the opposite impact – dissuading people from owning a second home or continue to own in those communities.”
While the new taxes alone might not drive out the wealthy, “we do know that taxes are important to businesses and individuals and could cause people to make a decision to buy in another nearby state,” Bhatt said.
The projected revenue from the new taxes may also disappoint. When Los Angeles passed its so-called “mansion tax” in 2022, proponents touted revenue projections of between $600 million to $1.1 billion a year. The tax, imposed on real estate sales over $5 million, has only raised $785 million after more than two years, according to the Los Angeles Housing Department.
Higher interest rates that hurt the housing market have played a role, experts say. Yet Michael Manville, professor of urban planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, said wealthy buyers and sellers also reduced transactions in response to the tax.
“The lower revenue is a reason to be concerned because it suggests that the tax might actually be reducing transactions, which in turn can reduce housing production and property tax revenue,” he said. More

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told staff it expects them to return to offices by Sept. 15, roughly five weeks after a gunman’s deadly attack on the agency’s headquarters in Atlanta, CNBC has learned. 
The internal announcement comes at a tumultuous time for the CDC and its workforce, which is still reeling from the shooting on Aug. 8 that left one police officer dead.
CDC leadership said the agency has made “significant progress” on repairs at the Roybal Campus in Atlanta.

A sign for the CDC sits outside of their facility at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Roybal campus in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., May 30, 2025.
Megan Varner | Reuters

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told staff it expects them to return to offices by Sept. 15, roughly five weeks after a gunman’s deadly attack on the agency’s headquarters in Atlanta, CNBC has learned. 
“Your safety remains our top priority. We are taking necessary steps to restore our workplace and will return to regular on-site operations no later than Monday, September 15,” Lynda Chapman, the agency’s new chief operating officer, said in an email sent Thursday that was viewed by CNBC.

Chapman said all staff will be expected to return to their offices by that date, according to the email. For employees whose workspaces remain impacted by the shooting — including physical damage from the gunman’s attack — the CDC will provide alternative spaces on its campus, Chapman wrote in the email. 
She said the agency has made “significant progress” on repairs at the CDC Roybal Campus in Atlanta. CDC leadership and a “Response and Recovery Management” team are working to address staff concerns and ensure a safe environment as the agency transitions back to in-office work, Chapman added. 
CDC staff had been instructed to work remotely following the Aug. 8 shooting, with options to return to the office in the weeks that followed, according to two people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution for speaking to the media.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The internal announcement comes at a tumultuous time for the CDC and its workforce. The shooting didn’t result in injuries among CDC staff but shell-shocked a workforce that was already reeling from sweeping changes under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including staff cuts and heated controversy over his efforts to change CDC immunization policies and fire the agency’s panel of vaccine advisors.

The return-to-office guidance also comes as the CDC grapples with a leadership upheaval: The White House earlier this week said President Donald Trump had fired the agency’s director, Susan Monarez. Four other top officials resigned, some of them citing the politicization of the agency and a threat to public health.  
Authorities identified the gunman behind the shooting at CDC headquarters as Patrick Joseph White and said they recovered five guns and more than 500 shell casings from the scene. During the attack, agency employees were forced to barricade themselves in offices.
White fatally shot a responding police officer, 33-year-old David Rose, and then killed himself. White had blamed the Covid-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal. 
Before her firing, Monarez appeared to directly blame the role of misinformation in the shooting, according to an email sent to staff on Aug. 12 that was viewed by CNBC.
In the note, Monarez said, “the dangers of misinformation and its promulgation has now led to deadly consequences. I will work to restore trust in public health to those who have lost it- through science, evidence, and clarity of purpose. I will need your help.” More

Upscale Indian dining in the U.S. has seen a recent boom, riding on the waves of increased interest in global cuisine and winning with regional dishes.
Restaurants like Bungalow, Semma and Tamarind are just a few examples of how the niche sector is gaining momentum.
They’re also riding the momentum of growing investor interest, as the U.K. restaurant chain Dishoom gained private equity backing for its statewide expansion.

Semma restaurant in New York, NY.
Courtesy: Steven Hall

Executive Chef Vikas Khanna has plated hundreds of thousands of dinners over the past 20 years — and he’s seen firsthand just how much Indian cuisine has evolved in the U.S.
Khanna, a world-renowned Indian restaurateur, created Junoon, his high-end Indian restaurant in New York City, more than a decade ago to wade deeper into sophisticated Indian dining, ultimately earning a Michelin star for the restaurant — one of the first Indian restaurants to earn the distinction.

As an immigrant in a post-9/11 America, Khanna said his bosses early in his career had been hesitant to branch out and experiment deeper with the broad canvas of Indian cuisine. Instead, he stuck to what he knew worked for the American palette: stereotypical menus and flavors like butter chicken and tikka masala.
But when American chef Anthony Bourdain visited Junoon for the first time, Khanna said he got the wakeup call of his career.
“He said, ‘I don’t understand why you guys want to camouflage your food to please the Western world,'” Khanna told CNBC. “He was saying, ‘You need to patronize the cuisine.’ And that became the foundation of Bungalow in many ways.”
Bungalow, Khanna’s next and highly popular venture in New York, is one of a growing number of Indian upscale and fine-dining restaurants popping up in the U.S. What was once takeout menus and buffets, Khanna said, has transformed into a business segment aiming to rival that of Italian and French cuisine and is garnering growing interest by the day.
According to Jimmy Rizvi, Khanna’s business partner at Bungalow, reservations for the restaurant sell out within 30 to 90 seconds of going live, with nightly waitlists averaging more than 1,000 people. The restaurant opened less than two years ago but consistently serves 300 to 400 dinners each night, becoming a top 10 restaurant in New York City on reservations platform Resy, Rizvi said.

“I definitely think that there’s a knowledge base that’s increasing; there’s more awareness with Indian food,” Rizvi, who also owns the restaurant Gupshup, told CNBC. “And there’s different cuisines within the Indian cuisine … that people are getting aware about.”

Bungalow’s Chef, Vikas Khanna.
Courtesy: Jimmy Rizvi

Tracking the rise

Khanna, who has been in the American restaurant scene for more than two decades, said he’s seen the entire landscape shift from “cheap food and curry houses” to sophisticated sit-down establishments.
Fine dining overall has seen a significant upswing over the past few years, Circana foodservice analyst David Portalatin told CNBC, as a post-pandemic appetite for a dining experience beyond just food has seen a boom.
Despite macroeconomic pressure with inflation and a pullback in consumer spending, Portalatin said customer visits to fine dining restaurants in July were up 5% year-over-year.
“One of the bright spots across the restaurant landscape right now is fine dining,” he said. “It’s evidence that the American consumer is once again desiring these unique and differentiated experiences outside the home.”
Along with that, Portalatin said younger consumers, like Generation Z and millennials, have a growing interest in global dishes with their “quest for flavors.” That opens the door for exploring cuisines like Indian food.
According to data from market research firm Datassential, new Indian restaurant openings in December 2024 hit 115, up from just 54 in September 2018. Currently, the firm counts 154 upscale Indian dining restaurants in the U.S. compared with 101 in January 2018.

Bungalow restaurant in New York, NY.
Courtesy: Jimmy Rizvi

Resy CEO Pablo Rivero told CNBC that he’s also seen demand for high-end Indian restaurants widen over the past few years.
“Modern Indian restaurants are redefining the category with ambitious menus and inventive formats — and diner demand for these elevated experiences shows no signs of slowing down,” Rivero said. “It’s a clear sign that diners are eager to explore experience-driven, innovative expressions of Indian cuisine at the highest level.”
And while growing American interest in global cuisines has taken off, the Indian American population has also mirrored that growth. According to the Pew Research Center, the Indian population in the U.S. has increased by roughly 3.1 million, growing about 174% since 2000.
That population has also seen a rise in affluence, making a high median household income of more than $151,000 in 2023, compared with just a median of over $105,000 for Asian American households overall, according to Pew.

Growing investor interest

As reservations at Indian restaurants begin to sell out even faster, investors are also looking to secure a seat at the table.
Just this month, popular U.K. Indian restaurant chain Dishoom gained private equity backing as it prepares to scale to the U.S. next year.
L Catterton, backed by LVMH, announced it was acquiring a minority stake for an undisclosed amount in Dishoom, marking the restaurant group’s first outside investment. The firm adds Dishoom to its growing slate of restaurant investments, including Japanese Kobe beef chain Kisshokichi and Spanish casual dining brand Goiko.
The new deal reportedly values the restaurant at roughly $400 million. L Catterton and Dishoom did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.

Bungalow’s Indian cuisine in New York City.
Courtesy: Jimmy Rizvi

Roni Mazumdar, with the James Beard Award-winning Indian restaurant Semma, said he’s seen a direct increase in investor interest as upscale Indian restaurants have boomed over the past few years.
Unapologetic Foods — the company behind many popular New York restaurants including Semma, Dhamaka, Adda and more — is having “continuous conversations” with outside investors, Mazumdar told CNBC, but even having those talks marks a significant change from when the group first entered the restaurant scene.
“I don’t think anyone saw Indian cuisine as a viable option until now,” Mazumdar said. “There are folks who we have consistent dialogues with who I don’t think five years ago would have even thought about the idea of, ‘Oh, it could be an interesting business model to look at.'”
Mazumdar said the landscape is “shifting rapidly” as more investors take notice.
“I wouldn’t call this a trend,” he added. “To take one of the oldest cuisines in the world – I think it’s an inevitability. It’s a matter of time.”

Emphasizing regional specificity

The Indian Restaurant Association of America identified hyper-regional flavors as one of its top 2025 Indian restaurant trends as chefs dig into the hundreds of local cuisines that dot the subcontinent.
Each of the restaurants from Mazumdar and Unapologetic Foods Chef Chintan Pandya, including Semma, emphasizes regional cuisines, rather than the typical northwestern Indian menus of decades past.
“I think we see a very interesting pattern where there’s a sense of curiosity towards finding out what a community is about through the lens of food,” Mazumdar said. “And I don’t think 20 years ago that was the case.”
Semma, for example, which was ranked No. 1 on The New York Times’ 2025 best restaurants list, explores the cuisine of South India, specifically the state of Tamil Nadu.
“I think one of the glorifying reasons that Semma is doing insanely great or something path-breaking is because it touches that nerve of Indian food which is cooked in India,” Pandya said. “That’s the entire belief, or the standard, or the vision of our company, where we will touch and cook the actual Indian food which we ourselves love to eat.”

Semma restaurant in New York, NY.
Courtesy: Steven Hall

Avtar Walia, the owner of Tamarind in Tribeca, has been in the American restaurant scene for decades. When he first immigrated to America in the ’70s, he couldn’t figure out why Indian restaurants weren’t at the same level as Italian and French restaurants.
By adding in more regional dishes and classic Indian street food, Walia said he began to see Indian restaurants — including his own eateries — change from typical buffets to sleek, elegant dining.
“From the last 47 years, I still follow the same pattern. Every month, month and a half, I change my lunch menu,” Walia said. “We take one of the regions … so that people can try different dishes, authentic dishes, and they don’t have to go anywhere else. And this worked very well for me.”
Walia estimated that nearly 95% of his clientele are regulars, with his restaurant becoming a staple for Wall Street business meetings.
And for Khanna over at Bungalow, the lines outside the restaurant just keep getting longer.
His rattan chairs have seated famed Indian celebrities like members of India’s billionaire Ambani family and Bollywood stars, as well as American bigwigs like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who visited the restaurant last year.
“When he came, he kept saying, ‘I know why every Indian in Seattle is on the phones at 8 a.m. PT to snag a reservation, because for them, this is not just visiting a restaurant — it’s a pilgrimage back home,'” Khanna said. “And that really stayed with me.” More

Spirit Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in less than a year on Friday.
The company had avoided bigger changes to cut costs, like getting rid of planes or more dramatically shrinking the airline’s footprint.
The budget airline emerged from bankruptcy in March to softer U.S. domestic fares and high costs that remained after its restructuring.

A Spirit Airlines Airbus A320 taxis at Los Angeles International Airport after arriving from Boston on September 1, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Kevin Carter | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Spirit Airlines on Friday filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in a year, just months after the country’s largest budget carrier failed find to sturdy financial footing when it came out of Chapter 11 protection in March.
Spirit debtholders agreed in the airline’s previous bankruptcy to exchange $795 million in debt for equity, but the carrier avoided bigger changes to cut costs, like getting rid of planes or more dramatically shrinking its footprint.

Spirit now says it will reduce its network and shrink its fleet, cuts that it said will reduce costs by “hundreds of millions of dollars” a year.
“Since emerging from our previous restructuring, which was targeted exclusively on reducing Spirit’s funded debt and raising equity capital, it has become clear that there is much more work to be done and many more tools are available to best position Spirit for the future,” Spirit CEO Dave Davis said in a news release on Friday.
In its filing, Spirit listed its assets and liabilities of between $1 billion and $10 billion.
The carrier sought to reassure customers that they can continue to book and fly on Spirit after its bankruptcy filing.
“Virtually every major U.S. airline has used these tools to improve their businesses and position them for long-term success,” Spirit posted on its Instagram account on Friday, written in white against a black background, uncharacteristic for the carrier that is often featuring its bright-yellow planes and tropical beaches.

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Dashed hopes

Spirit, known for its bright yellow planes, had expected to come out stronger from its previous bankruptcy, which it entered in November and emerged from in March. But the airline was dragged down by continued high costs and weaker U.S. domestic travel demand.
In a court filing in December, Spirit had forecast a net profit of $252 million this year. But earlier this month, it said it instead lost nearly $257 million since March 13, after it exited Chapter 11, through the end of June.
Spirit warned a few weeks ago that it might not be able to survive a year unless it significantly increased its cash. It also said its credit card processor was seeking additional collateral. It then borrowed the entire $275 million available under its revolving credit facility and said that the card processor could hold back up to $3 million a day from the airline.
Spirit’s shares are down 72% over the past month and down 45% in after-hours trading on Friday.

Labor cuts

Labor unions warned pilots and flight attendants earlier this month that more changes could be ahead. Hundreds of flight attendants are already on voluntary leave, and Spirit has planned to furlough hundreds of pilots this year to cut costs.
“This bankruptcy will be harder and look different than last year, but we will keep you closely informed and stick together as we move forward,” the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA told the carrier’s flight attendants on Friday after Spirit’s filing.
It said it expects more leaves will be offered. “As we communicated a few weeks ago, we urge you to take an honest look at your personal situation, examine all your options, and prepare for all possible scenarios,” the union said.

Rivals circle

Spirit had struggled for years as it dealt with a glut of U.S. flights, a Pratt & Whitney engine recall and a failed takeover by JetBlue Airways, a deal that was blocked in court.
Spirit’s aircraft lessors had reached out to rival airlines in recent weeks to gauge executives’ interest in some of the carrier’s planes, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were private. Spirit said Friday that it has been “actively engaged” with its biggest lessors, debtholders and others to “refine its path forward.”
The carrier is the United States’ largest budget airline, followed closely by rival Frontier Airlines, which has tried and failed to merge with Spirit repeatedly since 2022.
Frontier on Tuesday announced 20 new routes that compete with Spirit to win over its struggling competitor’s customers.
Spirit has been an icon of budget travel and its bare-bones service — and fees for bags and everything else — became a favorite punchline for comedians.
Over the years, larger airlines like American and United rolled out their own basic fares for price-sensitive customers, but with more perks on board like snacks and big global networks where loyalty members could use their miles for more destinations.
Another challenge was that many travelers, especially post-pandemic, have sought out pricier and more spacious seats on board, as well as more international travel. Spirit has tried to rebrand to bundle fares and provide more premium seating options, though competitors have still said they have an advantage in part because they have bigger networks and more brand loyalty. More

The Essence HBCU Classic is an NCAA football game between teams of historically Black colleges and universities.
This year’s inaugural match-up is between with the Morehouse College Maroon Tigers and the Johnson C. Smith University Golden Bulls at Harvard Stadium on Saturday.
“We are trying to amplify HBCUs and the amazing folks that go to those schools,” said Michele Ghee, chief content officer of title sponsor Essence. “What an amazing opportunity to say, ‘Yes, HBCUs are producing great students just like Harvard.'”

FILE PHOTO: A general view of the field during the Yale Bulldogs vs Harvard Crimson football game at Harvard Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts.
Adam Glanzman | Getty Images

A new tradition for HBCU football could be starting at one of the nation’s oldest football stadiums on the campus of Harvard University.
“It’s really a cultural event,” said Derek Brown, co-founder of the Essence HBCU Classic, an NCAA football game between teams of historically Black colleges and universities. This year’s inaugural match-up is between with the Morehouse College Maroon Tigers and the Johnson C. Smith University Golden Bulls on Saturday during Labor Day Weekend.

“Football is definitely a part of the weekend. But I would say it’s the appetizer, and everything that comes with it is the entrée,” Brown said.
The four-day event co-founded by Campus Rise, which also created the HBCU NY Classic, will feature a pep rally, tailgate, battle of the bands and a step show with the goal of creating at atmosphere similar to an HBCU homecoming.
“We are trying to amplify HBCUs and the amazing folks that go to those schools,” said Michele Ghee, chief content officer of title sponsor Essence. “What an amazing opportunity to say, ‘Yes, HBCUs are producing great students just like Harvard.'”
The event’s organizers said they chose Boston because of the large number of HBCU alumni in the area and chose Harvard Stadium for its historical significance.
In 1971, Howard University and University of Maryland Eastern Shore played a game at the stadium organized by the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts.

“Boston is actively working to shape a new narrative,” said John Borders IV, a Morehouse graduate and head of the Boston Office of Sports, Tourism and Entertainment, noting Mayor Michelle Wu is actively trying to distance the city from its history of racial tensions. “Boston has a rich Black history. While people may have one perception about Boston historically, there is a different dimension.”
The presidents of Morehouse and Johnson C. Smith say the game will likewise give both HBCUs an opportunity to inform people of their rich history and to build their national presence.
“It’s really an opportunity to have that broader exposure and to bring the product of Morehouse, the product of the pride of HBCUs on the road to showcase,” said F. Dubois Bowman, president of Morehouse.
“I think there are lots of questions we have to ask ourselves about representation, about the role that people of color, particularly Black people, play in this country,” said Valerie Kinloch, president of Johnson C. Smith. “When we talk about traversing different types of spaces, we have to understand how historically Black colleges and universities have a wide impact, and that also includes an impact on spaces that we usually would not be represented in.”
In addition to Essence, the game is being sponsored by betting giant DraftKings and Cash App, a subsidiary of Block.
“This partnership reflects who we are and what we stand for,” said Zack Ashley, global head of brand partnerships at Cash App, in a statement. “We’re honored to help bring the ESSENCE HBCU Classic to Boston and to celebrate the excellence, pride, and history of these institutions while providing real-world benefits to the communities they serve.”
Brown said the sponsorships are a clear acknowledgment of the value of HBCUs and their alumni during a time when many companies are ending their diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
“It’s a new tradition, but it’s not a new consumer,” Brown said. “I think all of our partners recognize that this a consumer that they wanted to target. They are not doing charity, they are sponsoring this event because it gives them great access to a consumer that is very important to their business.” More