Friday's Fast Five: Week of 2.9

‘New York New Jersey’ Got the World Cup Final. Now Comes the Hard Part. (The New York Times): Mr. Murphy and his team had spent years working to land the coveted event, and they already knew that the stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands would host at least seven matches in the next men’s World Cup. But the championship game of the largest sporting event in the world is the ultimate prize for any would-be host. Officials are already preparing for the logistical challenge of hosting eight games of the immensely popular soccer tournament at MetLife Stadium.

Mapped: America's new business hotspots (Axios): New business applications — which rose 7.4% nationally between December 2022 and December 2023 — are an excellent indicator of economic sentiment. Few people try to start a company when they foresee bad times ahead. Breaking down this data state by state can offer a regionalized barometer of economic sentiment across the country.

How streaming is changing the NFL’s business (CNBC): An average of nearly 18 million people tuned in to watch football games across TV and digital platforms during the 2023 regular season, the highest since 2015 and the second-highest ever, according to the NFL. The NFL’s move to ESPN in the late 1980s catapulted the rise of cable TV. Now, its jump into streaming is having ripple effects across the media and tech landscape.

Inside the Making of an AI Chip (The Wall Street Journal): The technology behind generative AI like ChatGPT has exploded, fueling a demand for chips that can handle the processing power these programs need. WSJ visited Amazon’s chip lab to see how these chips work, and why tech titans think they are the future.

Inside the Crime Rings Trafficking Sand (Scientific American): Organized crime is mining sand from rivers and coasts to feed demand worldwide, ruining ecosystems and communities. Can it be stopped?