RLDSC FAN

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4. Warfare

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The alcohol industry has survived just about everything: Prohibition. Wars. Recessions. The invention of Four Loko. What it’s struggling to survive right now is a generation that’s simply not that interested in drinking.

Shares of the world’s top listed beer, wine and spirits makers have shed a combined $830 billion in market value over the past four years, a 46% drop from their June 2021 peak. 

Financial analyst Laurence Whyatt told Bloomberg the industry is seeing “four times the impact of the financial crash on alcohol consumption.” And this is not just a temporary slump, either. Whyatt called it a “structural change.”

Gen Z is a big reason why. Gallup found U.S. alcohol consumption has fallen to a record-low 54% of adults, the lowest level since Gallup began tracking in 1939. Meanwhile, public health warnings have gotten harder to ignore. The World Health Organization has said no level of alcohol consumption is “safe” for health. And the U.S. surgeon general issued an advisory in January 2025 outlining evidence linking alcohol to at least seven types of cancer.

The shift is showing up in how alcohol companies are trying to keep younger consumers in the category without the alcohol. Big players like Bacardi, Heineken and Molson Coors are increasingly launching, acquiring or partnering with nonalcoholic brands to address consumer demand. Nonalcoholic beverage sales increased by 30% in the past year, a signal that “drinking less” does not automatically mean “spending less.”

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Since you didn’t list The Gentlemen, watch the Gentlemen before doing anything else.

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1 Baker

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Commissioner Adam Silver informed the league's 30 general managers Thursday that the NBA plans to make anti-tanking rule changes for next season, sources told ESPN.

The league office's conversations with stakeholders from the board of governors, competition committee and GMs have been intensifying dialogue about combatting tanking -- including starting to propose potential concepts for changes in December during its meeting with owners.

Multiple sources with knowledge of Thursday's meeting as well as a late January competition committee meeting told ESPN that these concepts have been discussed to curb tanking:

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First-round draft picks can be protected only for top-four or top-14-plus selections

Lottery odds freeze at the trade deadline or a later date

No longer allowing a team to pick in the top four in consecutive years and/or after consecutive bottom-three finishes

Teams can't pick in the top four the year after making conference finals

Lottery odds allocated based on two-year records

Lottery extended to include all play-in teams

Flatten odds for all lottery teams

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