The biggest event in the world of sports and business (arguably) just happened over the weekend. And while I highly doubt that any Chatham County company invested the at least $5.1 million to air a 30-second spot — that number courtesy of Bloomberg — some of Chatham’s businesses may see a loss in productivity due to the big game.
That and more in this week’s Corner Store.
Millions lost in productivity day after Super Bowl
According to market research firm Office Pulse, 14 percent of white-collar workers across the country will expect to be hungover or “extra tired” the day after the Super Bowl, including 26 percent of millenials. Sorry, guys. What does that mean? According to the research, $620 million in lost productivity. Spread that out over the reported 32.5 million businesses in the United States, according to the Albany Business Review, and each business is projected to lose an average of a little more than $19 in productivity this week on one day.
Fortnite, produced by Cary-based company, will become high school sport
I always try to keep regular Corner Store readers up on what might be going on with the next generation, so I write about Fortnite a lot. Here we go again.
According to Techcrunch.com, Cary-based Epic Games’ continuously-popular “Fortnite” will become an official high school and collegiate sport nationwide thanks to Los Angeles startup PlayVS. eSports — professional leagues for video gamers — have become ubiquitous. The Call of Duty League, the Battle.net World Championship Series, the FIFA Interactive World Cup and the League of Legends World Championship rope in millions of viewers and hundreds of players for big prizes worldwide.
But this is different — PlayVS says more than 13,000 high schools across the country have joined a waitlist to get a varsity eSports team through their program. Registration for the first season for high schoolers ends Feb. 17, and the season begins March 2. Interested gamers can head to playvs.com for more information.
Chatham primary elections — including two biz items — around the corner
Chatham County registered voters will have the chance in a little less than a month to have a say on two referenda that have a significant impact on business.
I’m starting a three-part series this week looking into the local option sales tax referendum and what that might mean for Chatham County. The first part covers some frequently asked questions about this tax, called the “Article 46” tax after its place in state statute. In the next couple of weeks, we’ll look at what the revenue might be used for and what people are saying about it.
There’s also a vote on allowing the “on-premises” sale of malt beverages and unfortified wine in Chatham County. Currently, such sales and consumption are allowed in the towns of Pittsboro and Siler City, but not at special event venues, craft beer breweries and other similar businesses in the unincorporated areas of Chatham. If voters say yes, that will change.
Keep an eye out in this newspaper over the coming weeks for more, and head to the polls on March 3 to make your voice heard.
Reporter Zachary Horner can be reached at zhorner@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @ZachHornerCNR.