Latest news with #MichaelWalker
New York Times
7 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
One Way to Sell Beer in Britain? Buy Into a Soccer Team.
With a portrait of Queen Victoria watching over him, a 75-year-old man frowned at a pint of something unfamiliar. 'This isn't beer,' Michael Walker said, teasing. He was sitting in a 178-year-old pub called the Victoria (Katz) near Birmingham, England. The drink reminded him of a goat's milk yogurt that he said helped cure his debilitating arthritis. Sitting across from him, his son, Steve Walker, 52, and a friend, Mark Sykes, 60, laughed. It was, in fact, a pint of beer, a citrusy I.P.A. called Cowboy's Payday, that they had placed in front of him. The pair had chosen this particular ale because they support Walsall Football Club. The beer came from an American craft brewery, NoFo Brew Co, which is among the English soccer club's sponsors. The pub, run by a Walsall fan, has a permanent tap of Cowboy's Payday. Michael Walker, a card-carrying member of the Campaign for Real Ale, an appreciation society for enthusiasts of traditionally brewed British beer, kept grumbling as he drank the more modern offering before him. But after a while, his companions noticed that he had downed his glass before either of them. In 2022, when Bryan and Shannon Miles became investors in Walsall F.C., they saw an opportunity to expand their Georgia brewery, which then distributed only in the Southeastern United States. Now, on the strength of its connection to the team, NoFo has 150 accounts in central England and is expanding into Ireland. 'They're doing something very savvy to build that local connection with a craft brewery,' said Ruvani de Silva, a British freelance beer journalist. 'I'm surprised more breweries aren't doing it.' For years, British soccer fans and beer drinkers, often one and the same, have watched American money and methods infiltrate their favorite pastimes. With some exceptions, they've enjoyed it. In soccer that meant big teams (Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United) and small ones (Wrexham, most notably) have been funded by U.S. investors, some of them celebrities. The American influence on beer meant airy beer halls serving easy-drinking ales popped up amid traditional pubs with the warmer, yeasty brews. As the Mileses ventured into two very British realms, they arrived at a particularly friendly time. A Trojan Horse When Mr. Miles was a teenager in San Diego, the English Premier League team Aston Villa invited him to be part of its organization on what's called a schoolboy contract: He would attend school in England while training with a professional soccer organization in hopes of playing professionally. Mr. Miles's parents said no. So he played soccer in college, then got a job in corporate America. In 2010, he and his wife cashed out their retirement accounts to start a virtual staffing company, which eventually became worth more than $100 million. As their wealth grew, they wanted to diversify their assets. When a friend, Joe Garcia, approached them about opening a brewery, they went for it. Next, when another friend asked Mr. Miles if he'd be interested in joining a small investment firm, Trivela Group, to buy soccer clubs, the couple was in. Walsall Football Club, owned by Trivela Group, is in England's League 2, the fourth tier in English football, three below the Premier League. That made it more affordable than larger clubs. It also meant that with some improvements of the stadium grounds and other capital injections, Trivela was able to quickly build value. 'They will follow their heart and wallet with whoever's sponsoring their club,' Mr. Miles said of the team's fans. 'And so it just seemed to me that if we could embed the NoFo brand in that, it would be kind of like a Trojan horse.' In 2023, NoFo became the sponsor on the front of the team's warm-up jerseys. There was already a pub at the 11,000-seat stadium, which had been shut down for decades. Rehabilitating it had been a condition of the purchase of the team. In December 2023, NoFo reached an agreement with an English brewery to produce its beer, rather than shipping it from the United States. That has lately turned out to be a sound decision. It means the uncertainty of the global tariff system won't affect it. Nick Burton, the company's dedicated sales representative, said American beer was considered 'more exotic, more interesting' than other offerings. 'I don't want to get myself out of a job here, but it's not that hard selling it,' Mr. Burton said. In 2024, NoFo produced 2,235 barrels of beer in the United States and Britain. Having begun selling in Ireland as well this year, they expect that number to increase to 3,630. Most U.S. brewers produce fewer than 1,000 barrels per year, according to statistics compiled by the Treasury Department. But it is a top-heavy industry. The largest producers make millions of barrels of beer each year. Craft beer became popular in Britain two decades ago, boosted by a tax benefit given to small breweries in 2002. Aspiring brewers visited the United States to learn more about the process, according to Matthew Curtis, a co-founder of Pellicle, an online magazine about drinking culture. He said breweries were shipping hops from the States so they could have the same ingredients found across the Atlantic Ocean. And although the number of breweries in Britain peaked in 2019, then steadily declined, the country had developed a taste for that kind of beer. NoFo debuted at the Locker, the revitalized stadium pub, in April 2024, and in March of this year, NoFo began selling its beer in Ireland at the stadium for Drogheda United, the Irish team that the Trivela Group bought. The Trivela Group also owns an 80 percent stake in a Danish team, Silkeborg I.F., and founded a soccer team in Togo, Trivela F.C. The Mileses said getting distribution in Ireland had been more difficult than it had been in England. But the experience has them thinking even more internationally. Mrs. Miles said they were considering expanding into other countries in Europe. The Ryan Reynolds Model English soccer fans are accustomed to American investment in their teams. Fans of the Premier League team Manchester United, for example, were famously not delighted by their American owners, the Glazer family. One of the most successful examples of American investment in a small soccer team is Wrexham A.F.C., a team in Wales that the actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny bought. (The basketball player LeBron James is part of an ownership group that controls the Liverpool Football Club.) Their involvement and the money they have spent on the team have made Wrexham a tourist destination, attracted a global fan base and, most important, led to the club's playing well enough to be promoted to a better league in three consecutive seasons. A fourth promotion would land it in the English Premier League. 'You go to Wrexham, and if you went there five years ago, the kids on the streets would be wearing a Manchester United or Chelsea or a Liverpool shirt,' Mr. Curtis said. 'Now you go and everyone is wearing a Wrexham shirt. It wouldn't surprise me if they managed to do the same with Walsall. People are pretty cool with their club having money.' (Mr. Curtis is a fan of Lincoln City, which has American investors. Landon Donovan, a former U.S. national team player, is a strategic adviser for the team.) And Walsall jerseys did become a lot more common around town this season as Walsall F.C. got off to a promising start. By January, it was in first place in League 2 by a wide margin and expected to be promoted to League 1. (The top three teams are automatically promoted while the fourth through seventh place teams enter a playoff for the fourth promotion.) Trivela opted not to sign flashy and expensive players, planning to expand the team's business first. And then the team's fortunes turned, and the standings got tighter. On April 5, Walsall faced Port Vale, a team that was threatening Walsall's standing atop the league. The winner would leave the day in first place. The Victoria (Katz) opened at 10 a.m. so fans could drink before going to the stadium about two miles away. In England, drinking alcohol on the grounds is illegal during a match, so attendees drink their fill in advance, at halftime and afterward. The Locker buzzed before the game, with every seat filled and a line to get drinks. Groups made up mostly of men gathered around high-top tables or picnic benches, their voices echoing in the cavernous space. 'It's a family affair for us,' said Dale Birkett, 51, who was there with his father and his 22-year-old son, Joe. 'My dad, he used to take me in the mid- to late '80s.' 'We just really want to get out of this league, don't we?' Joe said. 'We've been in this for far too long.' Joe and Dale Birkett were both drinking Cowboy's Payday, saying it was less boring than going for beer they could get just anywhere. But the eldest Birkett, Dale's father, refused. Walsall scored early, but lost. The Port Vale fans sang taunts. After the game, Walsall's supporters returned to the Locker, but they shuffled in this time, glumly. Matters didn't improve. By the end of the day, the team had fallen to fourth place; it would end the season without being promoted to the higher league. Still, after the loss to Port Vale, fans kept their post-match plans at the Victoria (Katz). Beer was the move after a win, and the move after a loss. 'There's a few Walsall fans in here,' the bar's owner, Jason Paddock, said. 'They've come to commiserate.'
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Bay County holds annual Memorial Day Ceremony
BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – Dozens of community members gathered Monday morning at Kent-Forest Lawn Cemetery in solemn remembrance of America's fallen heroes. The Memorial Day ceremony paid tribute to the men and women who gave their lives in service to the nation. 'It's beyond awesome to be able to come here today to honor the men and women that have fought and died for our country,' Master of Ceremonies and Vietnam Veteran William Paul said. 'That allows us to be here to do this today. An honor that I cannot tell you. That is great. And seeing the World War II veterans that are here and all of the others that are able to come here who actually sacrificed so that we can be here today.' The ceremony began with an invocation, followed by patriotic songs, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the National Anthem. An especially meaningful moment of the event was the wreath-laying ceremony, a solemn tradition meant to recognize and remember service members who made the ultimate sacrifice. Among those in attendance was Michael Walker and his family, there to honor his uncle, Private Vernon R. Miller. 'Private Vernon R. Miller was killed in action in Korea on October 9, 1951,' Walker shared. 'For years, until my mother passed away in 2010, she never really fully believed that he was gone. She felt that he was a prisoner of war somewhere. And she looked for him everywhere.' Walker emphasized the importance of preserving and sharing veterans' stories. 'We feel that if we don't continue to come here and tell their stories, their stories will be gone. And there's no bringing them back once there was,' he said. 'Vernon was a very young, very strong man who left as a 19-year-old. In the last month of his service, he was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor and also the Silver Star. The Silver Star was awarded to him and signed on the very day that he was killed in action. So he never even knew that he had received the Silver Star. That's the story that we always bring with us.' In keeping with national tradition, the ceremony concluded with a call to participate in the National Moment of Remembrance, observed each Memorial Day at 3 p.m. 'We ask that you stop for one minute and just remember those that are fallen,' Paul said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fox News
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
'Wizard of Oz' AI makeover is 'total transformation,' sparking mixed reactions: experts
The use of artifical intelligence to reimagine the classic film "The Wizard of Oz" will likely see mixed reactions from fans, experts told Fox News Digital. While "film purists" may resist the idea of using generative AI to give classic films an entire makeover, the technology could "breathe new life" into hit movies — including "The Wizard of Oz." Warner Bros. Discovery, Google Cloud and Magnopus have set out to do just that by creating an immersive experience for fans of the 1939 classic. The new "Wizard of Oz" experience is set to premiere at the Las Vegas Sphere on Aug. 28. "The fan reaction will likely split into two distinct camps," Michael Walker, CEO of AI-First at Trilogy, told Fox News Digital. "Film purists will object — and they have valid concerns about artistic integrity. The original work represents specific creative choices by directors, cinematographers and set designers who worked within the constraints of their era. Expanding and reimagining with AI creates something fundamentally different from their vision." "On the other hand, this represents an exciting new way to connect classic films with audiences who increasingly expect immersive experiences," he explained. "The technology could breathe new life into works that might otherwise fade from cultural relevance." "The Wizard of Oz" was originally shot in four-by-three images on a 35mm film, but had to be transformed to fit the Las Vegas Sphere's 160,000-square-foot screen. The LED screen at Las Vegas Sphere wraps over and behind the audience — creating a problem when trying to transform the original film of the classic feature. "Using versions of Veo, Imagen and Gemini specially tuned for the task, the Google teams and their partners developed an AI-based 'super resolution' tool to turn those tiny celluloid frames from 1939 into ultra-ultra-high definition imagery that will pop inside Sphere," according to a Google blog explaining the technology. "Then, the teams perform AI outpainting, to expand the scope of scenes to both fill the space and fill in the gaps created by camera cuts and framing limitations. Finally, through performance generation, they're incorporating composites of those famed performances into the expanded environments. Together, these techniques help achieve the natural gestures, staging and fine details that conventional CGI struggles to match." Jim Dolan, executive chairman and CEO of Sphere Entertainment, said: "When you have innovation like this, you don't always know where it's going to go. You have to be able to take a leap of faith. What you're going to see in 'The Wizard of Oz at Sphere' is clearly a leap of faith." Fans' reactions to this leap of faith will "span the spectrum," Boon Chew, founder of told Fox News Digital: "Some will be excited, others resistant. Predicting the majority reaction is tough, and in any case, popular opinion doesn't determine whether something is right or meaningful. Innovation isn't a democracy — it's a process of exploration." "What truly matters is the outcome," Chew explained. "If a reimagined classic resonates, its value will speak for itself. Dismissing it without seeing the result is less about merit and more about discomfort with change. A classic doesn't stop being a classic because it's expressed in a new way. In fact, the heart of a classic is its ability to endure, evolve, and inspire across generations. Some may say reimagining beloved films with AI is gimmicky or disrespectful. My take? Don't engage with the remake if it's not your thing — but let others explore and create. The only real line we shouldn't cross is legal or ethical: copyright, attribution and transparency." He continued: "From an evolutionary standpoint, nothing should be frozen in time. Reimagining classics with generative AI opens up new doors — for education, storytelling and accessibility." The AI makeover of "The Wizard of Oz" represents a "fascinating evolution in how we preserve and reimagine cultural touchstones." "What's happening with 'Wizard of Oz at Sphere' is a total transformation of the viewing experience, extending beyond the original frame and creating new visual content where none existed," Chew explained. The artificial-intelligence company founder claimed creative intent and transparency matter the most in this new age of film technology. "Is this presented as a new interpretation rather than a replacement? Does it respect the spirit of the original while creating something new? The most successful AI reimaginings will be those that honor their source material while being honest about the transformative nature of the experience," according to Chew. "What's happening with 'Wizard of Oz at Sphere' is a total transformation of the viewing experience, extending beyond the original frame and creating new visual content where none existed." Classic films with "strong visual signatures" would be good candidates for an AI remake, Walker told Fox News Digital. Those movies include "2001: A Space Odyssey" or "Lawrence of Arabia." Other films that could benefit from the AI transformation would be silent features, black-and-white movies and additional modern classics. "AI voice cloning can give voice to silent stars, while deep learning can restore or reconstruct missing footage," Chew noted. "Purists may resist — but the broader public could find it mesmerizing." For black-and-white movies, "AI can colorize scenes, remaster audio, and enhance clarity — offering a fresh experience while preserving the soul of the original." Franchises such as "Star Wars" or "Blade Runner," which are already familiar with reworks, could also be good options. "AI can elevate visual effects, seamlessly insert characters, or clone iconic voices like Darth Vader's," the AI expert said. "Older fans may stick with the originals, but new generations might prefer these high-tech renditions."
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Yahoo
Milwaukee human trafficking; detectives hope to raise awareness
The Brief Two detectives part of MPD's Human Trafficking Unit within the Sensitive Crimes Division have been working to stop the crimes. Human trafficking often goes unreported. January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. MILWAUKEE - January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month and some of the detectives who work in the Milwaukee Police Department's specialized unit want to bring awareness and stop traffickers. What we know Two detectives part of MPD's Human Trafficking Unit within the Sensitive Crimes Division have been working to stop the crimes. Detectives Michael Walker and Anna Flores say oftentimes, traffickers prey on the vulnerable, offering help, but using violence to control. Human trafficking often goes unreported. There's no exact number of victims. SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News Over the last two years, the MPD has investigated a combined 70 cases – three so far this year. What they're saying "It could be anybody. It's all over the place, in every neighborhood," Flores said. "They're being branded, they're being repeatedly beaten, they're being raped." "It occurs at gas stations, restaurants, at hotels," Walker said. "It's not necessarily what we see in mainstream movies where a white van pulls up and somebody's kidnapped and getting into sex trafficking." Dig deeper Maria Rozek is a trauma counselor and victim advocate within the unit. "This is not a new issue in our community, this has been going on for decades," Rozek said. "We, as a city, as a department are invested in trying to build safety within our community. The more we talk about a subject, it unravels." What we know Investigators say a lot of trafficking is happening to young people. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android "A lot of it is taking place online," Flores said. "We do frequent websites to see if we can spot any known missing juveniles." Investigators are trying to bring awareness and encourage people to come forward. If you suspect human trafficking or are the victim, there are ways to get help. MPD said to contact them directly or call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888, or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678, or visit their CyberTipline website. The Source Milwaukee Police Department Human Trafficking Unit
