Peter Kafka

Streaming big events like an NFL game used to be question mark. Amazon just got more than 31 million people to stream the Bears-Packers.

On Saturday, the Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers in an NFL playoff game that had everything: a bitter rivalry, an old-school outdoors atmosphere, and a historic comeback (or choke-job, depending on your POV).

It also happened to be a (mostly) streaming-only game. Did you notice? Or care?

I didn’t. Except for about 30 seconds, when I was trying to find out what network was showing the game, and it took me a beat to realize it was on Amazon’s Prime Video. Then I booted up my app and watched the game without any issue. Just like any other NFL game.

In 2026, “Guy doesn’t have a problem watching the Bears/Packers” is a true dog-bites-man story. But that’s why I’m writing about it here: Not very long ago, the idea of streaming a super-high-profile NFL game — and requiring NFL fans to subscribe to a streaming service in order to watch it — would have been a very big deal.

Now it’s a yawner: I was one of 31.6 million people who watched the game, the vast majority of whom streamed it (fans in local markets could use broadcast TV). That’s a streaming record for an NFL game, and it’s more than some other games got last weekend on conventional TV.

And that tells you just how far sports and streaming have come.

Flash back to 2013, for instance, and the idea of whether the “internet” — a catch-all term that included everything needed to get streaming video onto your screen, from web servers to fiber-optic lines to the router in your house — could support a big NFL game watched by many millions of people was an open question. “Why Web TV Skeptic Mark Cuban Thinks Google Can Make the NFL Work on the Web,” was an ungainly headline I tapped out at the time.

Back then, the NFL and other sports giants were routinely streaming big events like the Super Bowl and World Cup — but only as a sort of secondary outlet for weirdos who didn’t have traditional TV. And anyone who did stream sports had to expect to run into problems, like ESPN did when it streamed a World Cup game in 2014.

A year later, the NFL put on a streaming-only game for the first time — but made sure it was a relatively niche one, and made sure that people knew it was an experiment.

Cut to today, and streaming is just a way we watch some football games now. Amazon pays a gazillion dollars a year to show one game a week during the regular season; Netflix has paid up to show a couple games on Christmas Day. A new deal the NFL struck with Disney last year will give the league the opportunity to sell even more games to digital players.

And two years ago, the league passed another new threshold by moving one of its most valuable assets — a playoff game — to Comcast’s Peacock streamer, where it was only available to paid subscribers. That one generated a ton of complaints from people who said they didn’t want to pay another service to watch an NFL game — along with millions of sign-ups for Peacock, which showed they would.

The NFL is not ditching TV for streaming anytime soon. For many people, watching NFL games is the main reason to watch TV, and that gives the league a ton of leverage to extract ever-increasing fees from the likes of NBC and CBS. So they will almost certainly keep the majority of their games on old-time TV for the foreseeable future. But they’re going to sell them to streaming platforms too — because they’ll pay up to get them, and you’ll pay, too.




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OpenAI’s chief researcher says Mark Zuckerberg ‘hand-delivered soup’ to an employee in a recruiting effort

It’s been said that the way to one’s heart is through their stomach. It sounds like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wanted to see if the AI talent war, or at least one skirmish, could be won the same way.

Mark Chen, chief research officer at OpenAI, recently said that Zuckerberg personally delivered homemade soup to an OpenAI employee as part of a campaign to recruit the unnamed worker to Meta.

“It’s been kind of interesting and fun to see it escalate over time. You know, some interesting stories here are Zuck actually went and hand-delivered soup to people that he was trying to recruit from us,” Chen told Ashlee Vance on the author’s “Core Memory” podcast.

Chen said Zuckerberg’s move was “shocking to me at the time” but since then, he said he’s returned the favor.

“I’ve also delivered soup to people we’ve been recruiting from Meta,” Chen said, laughing.

The poaching efforts focused on OpenAI’s researchers and engineers underscores the company’s position in the AI race, Chen said.

“We’re always under attack,” Chen told Vance. “This is how I know we’re in the lead, right? Any company starts, where do they try to recruit from? It’s OpenAI. They want the expertise, they want our vision, our philosophy of the world. And we’ve made so many star researchers, right? I think OpenAI, more than anywhere else, has been a place that makes names in AI today.”

Arguably, no other rival tech company has been as aggressive in the so-called AI talent wars against OpenAI as Zuckerberg’s Meta.

In June, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that Meta tried to lure some of his engineers with $100 million signing bonuses. The CEO said at the time that none of his top talent was poached, but ChatGPT co-creator Shengjia Zhao later joined Meta’s Superintelligence Lab.

Chen said that Meta tried to recruit “half” of Chen’s direct reports unsuccessfully, but that OpenAI has been “fairly good” at retaining top talent. A Meta spokesperson declined to comment.

Top AI researchers have become a hot commodity in the AI race, as it’s generally believed that there is a relatively small number of researchers and engineers capable of achieving breakthroughs or building new LLMs from the ground up.

“It’s like looking for LeBron James,” Databricks’ vice president of AI, Naveen Rao, told The Verge’s Command Line newsletter last year. “There are just not very many humans who are capable of that.”




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7 of the best looks at the 2025 Gotham Awards and 5 that missed the mark

  • The 2025 Gotham Awards took place in New York City on Monday.
  • Celebrities like Tessa Thompson and Jacob Elordi wore stylish outfits to the awards ceremony.
  • Other stars, including Rihanna and Zoey Deutch, wore looks that missed the mark.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and no, I don’t mean the holidays. Awards season is officially upon us.

On Monday, the Gotham Film and Media Institute hosted its annual Gotham Awards, which celebrate independent films, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

Stars from some of the biggest movies of the year gathered in lower Manhattan dressed to the nines for the unofficial start to the race for the Academy Awards.

While some celebrities nailed their red carpet looks, others wore outfits that fell flat. Here were some of the best and worst looks of the night.

“Sentimental Value” star Renate Reinsve arrived in an eye-catching, architectural gown.

Renate Reinsve attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Reinsve chose a red satin dress for the Gotham Awards.

The gown’s high neckline was accented by an oversized bow that sat at the back of her neck, which Reinsve highlighted by wearing her hair in a sleek updo. The bodice of the gown formed a point at her waist, creating cutouts on either side of her torso.

The skirt ruched slightly at the waist before flowing to the floor in a column style. Chic and structured, the gown was one of the best on the red carpet.

Rihanna’s pink look from Balenciaga had potential, but it didn’t quite work.


Rihanna attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Rihanna attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images

The pink gown featured an off-the-shoulder neckline that formed short sleeves, revealing black gloves that covered nearly all of Rihanna’s arms.

The bodice bubbled out to her upper thigh, where it formed a dropped-waist skirt and flowed into a dramatic train. A pink and black necklace and a pink headpiece, which coordinated with the dress, tied the look together.

Elements of Rihanna’s outfit were strong, such as the color scheme and neckline, but overall, the look just had too much going on. The outfit could have been stronger if the dress had a simpler silhouette and Rihanna had opted not to wear a hat.

Jacob Elordi’s textured coat made his simple suit pop.


Jacob Elordi attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Jacob Elordi attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Elordi attended the Gotham Awards in a charcoal suit with a patterned green tie.

The suit was nice, but Elordi made the look truly stylish by wearing a gray, knee-length coat atop it. The subtle texture and longer length of the garment brought dimension to Elordi’s classic suit.

The floral appliqué on Li Jun Li’s white gown was stunning.


Li Jun Li attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Li Jun Li attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Mike Coppola/Getty Images for The Gotham Film & Media Institute

Li, who played Grace Chow in “Sinners,” arrived at the Gotham Awards in a cream gown.

Much of the bodice of Li’s dress was sheer, with three-dimensional floral appliqués covering the top and a line down the center. The line of flowers led to the low-waisted skirt, which was also slightly see-through and gathered in the center in pleats before flowing out into a train.

With delicate silver jewelry, Li’s look felt fresh and effortless.

Zoey Deutch’s feathered gown may have worked better in a different color.


Zoey Deutch attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Zoey Deutch attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Deutch arrived at the Gotham Awards in a short-sleeved, yellow dress from Prada. The entire dress was covered in feathers, from the scooped neckline to the floor-length skirt.

Although feathers can be fun, the sheer volume of them on this gown seemed to swallow Deutch. Plus, the bright color combined with the pattern was unfortunately reminiscent of Big Bird, which didn’t seem to be what Deutch was going for.

The dress may have been more successful in a different color that made the feathers feel less over-the-top.

Ruffled detailing made Tessa Thompson’s gown stand out.


Tessa Thompson attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Tessa Thompson attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Schiaparelli designed Thompson’s silver dress. It had a one-shoulder neckline, with layers of fabric creating large ruffles on the shoulder. The fitted bodice flared slightly at her waist to create a small peplum, contrasting with the sheath skirt.

Silver accessories, including playful cuffed earrings, completed the chic outfit.

Hilaria Baldwin’s floral minidress wasn’t a great choice for the event.


Hilaria Baldwin attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Hilaria Baldwin attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Baldwin shared on Instagram that she bought the Zimmermann dress she wore to the Gotham Awards after seeing it in the shop’s window the day before the event. The floral minidress was certainly pretty, with spaghetti straps, a corset bodice, and a layered skirt.

However, it looked out of place on the December red carpet, which was full of full-length gowns. Additionally, Baldwin’s accessories also seemed disjointed, particularly between her funky, sparkly heels and her more classic pearl jewelry.

Zimmermann makes a version of the same dress with a longer pencil skirt, which may have worked better for the Gotham Awards, especially if Baldwin had stuck to one aesthetic for her accessories.

Chase Infiniti’s Louis Vuitton gown was sleek and stylish.


Chase Infiniti attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Chase Infiniti attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Infiniti’s velvet Louis Vuitton gown — custom-designed for the “One Battle After Another” star — had a high neckline, pointed shoulders, and long sleeves.

Round cutouts on either side of the bodice broke up the gown, while the skirt hugged her figure before transitioning into a subtle train. She wore sparkly jewelry with the sophisticated gown.

Teyana Taylor’s top and skirt looked a bit disjointed together.


Teyana Taylor attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Teyana Taylor attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images

A voluminous skirt was the star of Taylor’s Chanel ensemble. Belted at the waist, it was adorned with red and white feathers and had a high-low hemline that created a dramatic train. The hemline also showed off Taylor’s white and black shoes.

The skirt was fabulous, but it would have made more of a statement with a different top, as Taylor wore it with a silky, cream-colored T-shirt. A fitted top or a shirt with a more interesting neckline would have worked better.

Elle Fanning elevated her white gown with statement jewelry.


Elle Fanning attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Elle Fanning attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Fanning kept her outfit simple but beautiful for the Gotham Awards, wearing a white Ralph Lauren dress.

The gown’s halter neckline dipped to her waist and had an open back, while the chiffon skirt, which was slightly sheer, flowed to the floor.

Cartier jewelry, including a statement choker and bracelet, added a glitzy edge to Fanning’s ensemble.

There was too much color contrast in Alexander Skarsgård’s suit.


Alexander Skarsgård attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Alexander Skarsgård attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Skarsgård’s custom Valentino suit, designed by Alessandro Michele, featured a black shirt, black trousers, a cream tie, and a shiny pink jacket.

The pink jacket was fun on the red carpet, but there were too many different colors in Skarsgård’s look to make the jacket really stand out. If he had worn a pink tie or opted for a white shirt, the colors may have worked better together.

Riley Keough popped in red at the Gotham Awards.


Riley Keough attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Riley Keough attends the 2025 Gotham Awards.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images

The bodice of Keough’s Chanel gown was red with a subtle ruched pattern. The high neckline and long sleeves were trimmed with black ruffles, complementing the dropped-waist skirt, which was made of tiered black, red, and white fabric.

She paired the gown with open-toed black shoes, silver hoops, and loose waves in her hair, creating a look that was funky and stylish.




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