Wall Street Breakfast Podcast: Football Returns, Ad Dollars

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NBCUniversal (CMCSA) already sold all of its advertising inventory for Super Bowl LX. (00:25) American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) soars as Sydney Sweeney campaign pays off. (01:51) Gold reaches another record high. (02:51)

This is an abridged transcript.

The NFL season kicks off tonight with the reigning SuperBowl champions versus America’s team.

The Philadelphia Eagles will host the Dallas Cowboys in a game that is far too late for me to watch with an 8:20 kickoff on NBC and Peacock.

Advertisers have obviously been getting ready for the start of the season as NBCUniversal confirmed on Wednesday that spots for the NFL season are 90% sold out and the 2026 Super Bowl is already fully booked.

The Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) property will air tonight’s opening matchup as well as Sunday Night FootBall broadcasts and Super Bowl LX in early February.

After tonight, Thursday Night Football will stream on Prime Video (AMZN).

“The unprecedented demand from advertisers across the Super Bowl and our 20th season of Sunday Night Football has made this upcoming NFL season our highest grossing to date,” NBC Executive Vice President Peter Lazarus said in a media statement.

Football and betting also go hand-in-hand. Americans are expected to place an estimated $30 billion in legal sports bets on the 2025 NFL season through U.S. sportsbooks such as DraftKings (DKNG), FanDuel (FLUT), and BetMGM (MGM) (OTCPK:GMVHF).

We’re taking a deeper dive into the economics of football in today’s edition of the Wall Street Breakfast newsletter.

An ad campaign that sparked controversy has given one brand and business a reset.

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) is up 24% in premarket action as it credits its advertising campaign starring actress Sydney Sweeney for “record breaking new customer acquisition and brand awareness.”

The company’s CEO Jay Schottenstein said in an earnings call with analysts that the reset was “across age demographics and genders.”

American Eagle’s (NYSE:AEO) collaboration with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, announced shortly after his engagement to Taylor Swift, kept this momentum going.

“We have seen periods of very strong demand from both campaigns fueling positive traffic in August, which was up consistently throughout the month,” Schottenstein said.

Jennifer Foyle, president and executive creative director of AE & Aerie, said the Sweeney and Kelce campaigns generated “a staggering 40B impressions.” She added that Sweeny Signature jeans sold out within a week and some products within a day.

Gold futures notched another record high on Wednesday.

Front-month Comex gold (XAUUSD:CUR) for September delivery settled +1.2% to $3,593.20/oz, another record high and the metal’s sixth straight daily increase.

Front-month Comex September silver (XAGUSD:CUR) ended +1.1% to $41.542/oz, its fifth straight gain and highest settlement since September 9, 2011.

Seeking Alpha analyst Clem Chambers attributes the surge to rising geopolitical tensions as central banks and governments drive demand as a hedge against conflict.

Chambers sees gold potentially reaching $4,000-$5,000/oz, with further upside if global instability worsens. He also sees platinum and silver offering compelling supply-demand dynamics.

You can catch Clem’s full conversation on our Investing Experts podcast. I’ll leave a link in the show notes section.

What’s Trending on Seeking Alpha:

Tesla robotaxi app now open to public riders

Salesforce slides despite solid Q2 results as Q3 outlook appears mixed

Nvidia’s AI chips still wanted by Chinese firms despite Beijing’s pressure to not buy: report

Catalyst watch:

• Samsung (OTCPK:SSNLF) will hold its Galaxy Unpacked event to reveal the Galaxy S25 FE smartphone and the Galaxy Tab S11 series. The event is also anticipated to focus heavily on Galaxy AI advancements and premium tablets.

• Procter & Gamble (PG) will present at the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference.

• Analog Devices (ADI) Chief Financial Officer Richard Puccio will discuss business topics and trends at Citi’s 2025 Global TMT Conference.

• Coinbase Global (COIN) CFO Alesia Haas will participate in a fireside chat at the Citi Global TMT Conference.

Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in mixed territory. Crude oil is down 1.1% at $63/barrel. Bitcoin is down 0.8% at $110,000.

The FTSE 100 is up 0.1% and the DAX is up 0.5%.

The biggest movers for the day premarket: Figma (NYSE:FIG) -15% – Shares slid after the design software company delivered its first earnings report since going public, with Q2 revenue rising 41% Y/Y to $249.6M and non-GAAP net income of $19.8M.

On today’s economic calendar:

• 9:45 am PMI Composite Final

• 12:05 pm New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams will give a keynote before an Economic Club of New York Signature Luncheon.

• 7:00 pm Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Austan Goolsbee will participate in a moderated Q&A before the mHub Industry Disruptor Series event.