Hernán Tantardini grew up in Argentina, where soccer was a way of life. But in the U.S., where he’s now the CMO of PepsiCo’s Lay’s and Food Portfolio, he knows the culture around soccer is different. But as FIFA World Cup games are played throughout the U.S., Americans are increasingly engaged and excited. A study earlier this year published by Sports Business Journal found that 75% of Americans expected to follow the tournament, and 26% planned to watch “a lot” of matches.

I talked to Tantardini about how Lay’s is capturing the traditional American approach to soccer fandom—as well as the more diehard enthusiasm associated with fans in the rest of the world—and keeping consumers interested and engaged throughout the tournament. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.

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NBCUniversal will be just an entertainment company again. Comcast announced this week that it plans to spin off its division including NBCUniversal and Sky. Mike Cavanagh, current co-CEO of Comcast, will become CEO of the new NBCUniversal. On the investor call about the plan on Monday, Comcast co-CEO Brian Roberts said the deal was “absolutely not” about getting the two halves of the company ready for M&A, but to “put each company in the strongest position to create value, fully monetize its assets and aggressively pursue its own organic growth strategies.”

Analysts have scoffed at that explanation, saying it’s a ripe atmosphere for big deals, the New York Times reports. NBCUniversal includes Universal Pictures, Universal theme parks, the NBC network, Peacock, Bravo, Telemundo and Europe’s Sky network. (Comcast spun off several of its cable channels—which include CNBC, USA and what’s now known as MS Now—last year.) Forbes senior contributor David Bloom parses whether Netflix may want to take a look at these assets—though no deals could take place until the spinoff is complete.

But it’s been a fraught environment for media deals under President Donald Trump’s administration, Deadline reports. While Trump has been more willing to approve mega-mergers than previous administrations, he has paid close attention to those involving the media, and have been approved after actions to appease him—like CBS’s $16 million settlement over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview before the Paramount Skydance deal was greenlit. While Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said the president didn’t intervene in its unsuccessful bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, Trump and Justice Department officials met with Netflix and began an antitrust probe before Warner Bros.........

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