Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your insider’s guide to the best new reporting at Puck.

First up today, Eriq Gardner charts the latest developments in the CAA–Range Media legal showdown as Bryan Lourd’s mega-agency sues its own former assistants to unearth evidence of defecting agents’ alleged foul play. Plus, Eriq uncovers a remarkable development in a decade-old CAA-UTA battle, over who would pay UTA’s $7 million in legal fees…

Then, below the fold: Sarah Shapiro cracks the code to Uniqlo’s North American e-commerce conundrum. Julie Davich considers whether a powerful Noah Davis retrospective can reshape the late artist’s legacy. Peter Hamby brilliantly sets the stakes for yesterday’s special elections in Wisconsin and Florida. And John Heilemann explains what the results mean for Elon Musk after his $25 million intervention backfired.

Meanwhile, on the pods: John Ourand reunites with the legendary Andrew Marchand on The Varsity for a rollicking debate about the NFL’s streaming strategy and MLB’s media tactics. And on The Powers That Be, John joins Peter to chronicle the shifting college sports landscape and rehash the NFL owners meeting in Palm Beach.

HOLLYWOOD

The CAA–Range Media legal saga continues to heat up with a new lawsuit from Bryan Lourd’s agency against the rogue assistants who left alongside their bosses, accusing them of being part of a broader “effort to block CAA from getting at the truth.” CAA claims that the defecting agents are using confidential intel to help run an unlicensed competitor, but recently, arbitrators quietly supported the former agents in their quest to retain equity vested over decades that they claim is worth $70 million. Meanwhile, Eriq uncovered a new development in the decade-old CAA-UTA legal mess: a ruling that leaves the latter agency on the hook for $7 million in legal bills.

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FASHION

Uniqlo, the Japanese mass-market clothing brand, became wildly popular in the U.S. among fashion people and pragmatists alike for its timeless, high-quality basics. The company has become so successful that they’re planning an expansion to 200 stores in North America by 2027. In the meantime, however, customers have been struggling with Uniqlo’s e-commerce experience, including a website that lacks the ease of use and UX design that American consumers expect when shopping online. The unnecessary friction, Sarah reports, might be due to limitations on site infrastructure that the U.S. team inherited from Uniqlo management in Japan. Luckily, making their website as modern as their clothes seems like an easy fix.

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ART

The late artist Noah Davis will return to the spotlight when a retrospective of his work, currently on display in London, comes to Los Angeles this summer. The Barbican gallery exhibition of Davis’s pieces has become the talk of London, and has already moved people to tears. In 2015, Davis tragically died of cancer at just 32 years old, and despite some loud critical praise of his posthumous show at David Zwirner in 2020, he remained mostly unknown. In 2022, however, one of his paintings sold at auction for $1.5 million against a $400,000 estimate—signaling growing admiration for his soft depiction of the Black experience through everyday moments. “If I’m making any statement, it’s to just show Black people in normal scenarios, where drugs and guns are nothing to do with it,” he once said of his work.

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WASHINGTON

Tuesday’s special elections featured two House races in Florida and a contest for a potentially ideology-shifting seat on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, all of which were closely watched by political operatives as a public temperature check on the new Trump administration. The Wisconsin race—which Elon Musk claimed was “going to affect the entire destiny of humanity”—attracted almost $100 million from outside donors, including Musk himself. The second set of races took place in Florida, with congressional candidates jockeying to replace failed prospective attorney general Matt Gaetz and Signal enthusiast Mike Waltz. Democrats were less worried about winning those races, given that both districts voted overwhelmingly for Trump in November. But they are optimistic about what the margins might indicate regarding Trump and Elon bleeding support nationwide.

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WASHINGTON

Elon Musk literally jumped back into the campaign fray at a rally on Sunday for the Republican candidate for Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, Brad Schimel. With Trump absent, the headline speech was left to Elon, who droned on about Social Security fraud, birth rates, and A.I.—barely mentioning the candidate he was there to support. The White House likely figured Schimel wouldn’t win on Tuesday, but they didn’t expect him to lose by such a wide margin, either. Wisconsin Dems were happy with the outcome, but many were stunned by the turnout: 2.4 million voters, just shy of the typical turnout for a midterm election in the state. Many on the right hoped this would be the beginning of the end of Musk’s involvement in politics. In the words of one senior G.O.P. senator: “Not that he needs our money, … but we’d all pitch in and pay for his ticket if that’s what it took.”

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SPORTS

In a special reunion episode, the legendary Andrew Marchand returns for a rollicking conversation about the NFL’s streaming strategy, from Amazon’s Thursday Night Football to Netflix’s Christmas Day tripleheader. Then, they debate whether ESPN will reacquire Sunday Night Baseball rights and the effectiveness of MLB’s current media tactics. Finally, they touch on J.J. Watt’s move to CBS and the future of NFL broadcasting.

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SPORTS

John Ourand joins Peter Hamby to discuss the current state of college sports, including the drama surrounding the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, the impact of N.I.L., and the ever-controversial transfer portal. They also delve into the carriage dispute between Comcast and the Yankees' YES Network, and rehash the NFL owners meeting in Palm Beach.

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