A Holiday Weekend Diatribe.

Memorial Day – More Than Ever. Spaceport, Not Airport. Bull Or Bear? Pop Up Theaters. Office Space. Ice Cream for 60. Wide World Of Sports.

For a many reasons, tomorrow is the most important holiday in the United States.  Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May and was formerly known as Decoration Day.  Memorial Day commemorates all men and women who have died in military service for the United States.  Tomorrow takes on additional significance with those around the world who have fallen to Covid-19, with millions reflecting on the family and friends they have lost. If you have a flag, please honor our fallen veterans and victims and fly your flag; if you don’t have one please go buy one. Note: on Friday, the White House, for this weekend, asked that all flags be flown at half-mast to honor those lost to Covid-19.

Wednesday afternoon is significant and marks the new age of space exploration. For many decades, NASA has designed, developed and deployed all manned space flights. The new direction from NASA is to commercialize space flight, using the resources of private space exploration companies to do the heavy lifting of rocket design and deployment. On Wednesday, SpaceX will fire off its spacecraft, Crew Dragon, from Kennedy Space Center on the east coast of Florida. With success, this launch will be the go-forward for privatized space exploration. It is inevitable that it in the not so distant future, your airport will be joined by a spaceport and instead of seeing the signage for airlines you will see way-finding signage for SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic. Yes, you will.

Can someone shed some light why the Dow is only 16% off its all time high? This may be the strangest stock market in modern history. Thousands of businesses’ annual forecasts demolished, 25% unemployment, and in some areas a spike in Covid-19 infections. The Dow Jones all-time high of 29,551 was reached on Feb. 12, 2020. I am not complaining but someone please chime in.

Other than the dynamics of acquiring real estate and working out the restroom, food and beverage dynamics, expect to see drive-in theaters popping up all over the country. Digital imaging, screen resolution, and audio-casting makes this a go-forward proposition for the motion picture industry and consumers wanting to see the big screen while keeping social distance. Anyone disagree?

We have all heard this before, especially after 9/11. Many leaders of technology companies, including Google, Facebook, Zoom, and Index Exchange are contemplating a permanent work-from-home for all employees. My assumption is that the last ten-twelve weeks have given these companies the time to access their employees productivity and performance. One dynamic to contemplate: if this is a go-forward for many organizations, what happens to the millions of square feet of uninhabited office space? I am sure Jones Lang LaSalle and other commercial real estate companies are figuring that out right now.

We all hear about many NBA players, with their absorbent salaries, sometimes being difficult to motivate. There are many ways to motivate your team and individual players, but this directive from Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, from both a motivation and reward standpoint, is quite interesting:

Located near Orlando, Florida, within Walt Disney World, is the ESPN Wide World of Sports (WWS) complex. There are not many sports complexes around the world with the facilities housed at this amazing venue. I have had the opportunity and privilege to play many tournaments at the WWS and was always amazed at the depth of facilities, the fastidious organization of the tournament, and of course how tidy and clean the employees kept all the grounds and facilities. I can’t think of a better venue for Major League Soccer and the National Basketball Association to continue their seasons. Other than the sub-Sahara heat and humidity, the WWS provides the total “bubble” both leagues are looking for to try and keep the teams and media safe. Fingers crossed that this game plan works out.

Adios, stay safe, pay it forward, and yes, Have A FUNDAY SUNDAY!