Fifa has been forced to U-turn on plans to sell off a slice of the World Cup after fierce opposition, with threats of future boycotts and calls for the governing body’s president, Gianni Infantino, to quit.

But why were a group of tech investors interested in the World Cup in the first place, and are similar proposals in the future inevitable?

In a world in which AI could upend human recreation and pastimes, executives at Thrive Eternal, a spin-off of venture capital firm Thrive Capital, saw an opportunity to lead a group of investors to place cash in the biggest sporting competition on the planet.

The football World Cup was seen as the latest in a new strategy from firm, which believes that sport will not only survive the AI revolution, but grow in value.

Run by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared, Thrive mainly invests in technology companies developing artificial intelligence (AI) and it has been a major financial backer of Open AI.

But in April this year, the New York City-based entity created the new investment arm Thrive Eternal in order to invest in areas that have “qualities that cannot be replicated by technology”.

Sport is central to that strategy, and that is where football – and securing a minority stake in the World Cup under Fifa’s proposed Forward Enterprise (FFE), – became an opportunity.

The view is that the tradition, cultural and identity aspects of football will protect the sport from being upended by AI compared with other forms of entertainment such as movies and music, which are already seeing the technology start to replace humans.

Professor Simon Chadwick has worked in the global sports industry for 30 years, including working with both fan groups, football clubs and governing bodies Fifa and Uefa.

He said investment interests and commercialisation in general meant a lot of decisions were being made on behalf of football and fans “in Wall Street and Silicon Valley”.

“It is almost as though it’s crept up on us and a lot of people haven’t really thought about what’s happening,” he told the BBC.

While it raised governance questions for Fifa, he added: “Whether people like it or not, private equity investment in sport is happening.”

Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry has no intention of requesting a trade to the Boston Celtics or anywhere else, according to a new report, closing the book on a rumor that spread rapidly across social media earlier this month despite having little basis in actual reporting.

Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints reported that Curry is expected to remain with Golden State through the entirety of the 2026-27 season, writing, “The bottom line is that Curry isn’t going anywhere. All of those trade rumors and people putting Curry in the trade machine online are nothing but fiction.” Siegel added, “Curry wants to remain with the Warriors and will not be requesting a trade, sources told ClutchPoints. Steph will be on the team to begin and finish the 2026-27 season.”

How the Rumor Started

The speculation traces back to a July 27 opinion column written by Sports Illustrated’s John Karalis, a longtime Celtics reporter, in which he floated a hypothetical trade sending Paul George, Sam Hauser and draft picks to Golden State in exchange for Curry. Karalis framed the idea explicitly as speculative, built around the premise of what Boston could offer if the Warriors were ever open to moving their franchise star.

That nuance was quickly lost as the story spread online. Social media accounts began reporting, inaccurately, that Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens had actually called the Warriors to pitch a trade for Curry, a claim that Karalis never made. One post from the account TheNBABase, stating “Brad Stevens has already called the Warriors to pitch a deal for Stephen Curry, per John Karalis,” drew roughly 2 million views on X, while a nearly identical post from another account topped 1 million views. Karalis publicly corrected the record himself, writing, “I did not report that the Celtics made an offer to the Warriors. I wrote a column that said IF the Warriors were open to a Steph trade that Brad WOULD call. I thought it was pretty clear that the whole piece was my opinion.”

Multiple Reports Now Point the Same Direction

Since the rumor first spread, several additional reports have independently pushed back on the idea that a Curry trade is realistic. Sports journalist Jake Weinbach reported that the Warriors are not considering trading Curry and remain committed to building around him, saying, “Steph Curry is not a trade candidate, at least for the time being. The Warriors fully plan to keep their core intact heading into the 2026-27 season.”

Separate analysis from Yahoo Sports and Yardbarker outlined several practical obstacles that would make any such deal unlikely even if the Warriors were willing to listen, starting with the fact that Curry remains under contract for the 2026-27 season and that Golden State has reportedly been in discussions about extending him further rather than moving him. Those outlets also noted that any realistic trade package would require an enormous outlay of draft capital from Boston, potentially including Paul George, multiple first-round picks, pick swaps and additional young assets, a cost analysts said would be difficult to justify given the Celtics’ broader long-term roster-building strategy over the past decade.

A Warriors Offseason That Fueled Speculation

The rumors gained traction in part because of a relatively quiet offseason for Golden State, which failed to land a marquee addition after LeBron James chose to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers rather than the Warriors. That outcome left some fans and analysts questioning whether the front office had done enough to build another championship-caliber roster around Curry, feeding speculation that the 38-year-old guard might eventually look elsewhere to chase one more title.

Despite that offseason disappointment, Golden State is expected to move forward largely with its existing core heading into next season, led by Curry and longtime teammate Draymond Green, while the team awaits the return of Jimmy Butler from injury. According to Heavy.com, the broader consensus around the NBA remains that Curry will not request a trade, even as the outlet noted that if Curry were to grow unhappy with the Warriors’ direction and did not sign a contract extension in the coming weeks, speculation about his future would likely resurface.

A Career Built Entirely in Golden State

Curry has spent his entire NBA career with the Warriors since being selected with the seventh overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. Over that span, he has led the franchise to four championships and become the defining figure of its modern dynasty, transforming the Warriors from a perennial lottery team into one of the league’s most successful organizations of the past decade. Curry has consistently expressed a desire to finish his career in Golden State, a stance that has remained unchanged throughout the recent wave of trade speculation.

A Familiar Pattern of Offseason Rumor Cycles

The Curry-to-Celtics saga fits a broader pattern common to NBA offseasons, in which speculative columns or hypothetical trade proposals, often explicitly framed as opinion or exercises in imagination, get stripped of that context as they spread across social media and aggregator sites, eventually taking on the appearance of confirmed reporting. Karalis’s experience watching his own opinion piece transform into a viral, inaccurate report illustrates how quickly that kind of distortion can occur, particularly during the slower news period of the NBA’s summer calendar, when speculative trade content tends to draw outsized attention from fans eager for offseason storylines.

With multiple independent reports now aligning on the same conclusion, that Curry has no intention of requesting a trade and that the Warriors have no plans to move him, the speculation linking him to Boston appears to have run its course for now. Attention is likely to shift toward whether Golden State and Curry finalize a contract extension in the coming weeks, a development that would further reinforce his long-term future with the only franchise he has ever played for as the Warriors prepare to open training camp ahead of the 2026-27 season.

Medicaid spending on a top autism therapy has surged past $5 billion, drawing scrutiny over fraud and how taxpayer dollars are being spent.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), one of the most common treatments for children with autism, uses structured, one-on-one sessions to build communication, social and daily living skills. Between 2018 and 2024, Medicaid providers paid out more than $5.15 billion under an ABA billing code. Three providers received roughly $685 million in Medicaid reimbursements during that period.

The data alone does not explain why those reimbursements were so high, and billing experts say unusually large payments can reflect a variety of factors.

MINNESOTA FRAUD SUSPECT SKIPS COURT, FORFEITS BOND, THROWING $11M MEDICAID CASE INTO DOUBT

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy helps children with autism build communication, social and daily living skills through structured, one-on-one sessions.  (iStock / iStock)

Officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) told Fox News Digital it has observed “significant growth” in Medicaid spending on ABA therapy in recent years.

“While access to medically necessary services remains a priority, rapid program growth also underscores the importance of ensuring services are clinically appropriate, delivered by qualified providers, and supported by strong program integrity safeguards,” a CMS spokesperson said.

As spending has grown, federal prosecutors have pursued multimillion-dollar fraud cases involving ABA providers.

In May, two Minnesota autism clinic operators were charged with allegedly billing Medicaid $46.6 million for services prosecutors say were unnecessary or never provided. Another Minnesota woman pleaded guilty in a separate $14 million Medicaid autism fraud scheme.

Investigations by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have also documented allegations that some providers billed for services that were never provided, inflated therapy hours and aggressively expanded as Medicaid spending surged.

TRUMP ADMIN PAUSING OVER $1B IN MEDICAID PAYMENTS TO MINNESOTA, CALIFORNIA OVER FRAUD, COMPLIANCE CONCERNS

Eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs, including Medicaid, has emerged as a key policy priority for the Trump administration during its second term. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The scrutiny comes as the Trump administration has made it a focus of his second term to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse across federal programs, including Medicaid, a central policy priority.

Meanwhile, states have responded differently.

Florida says it recovered more than $72 million in improper Medicaid payments over the past year.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently announced a statewide Medicaid Integrity Initiative to strengthen provider screening, enhance fraud detection and increase oversight.

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Republicans have argued that eliminating fraud, waste and abuse in Medicaid should be a priority before considering broader changes to the program, saying improper payments divert taxpayer dollars from vulnerable Americans who depend on the safety ne (iStock / iStock)

While Florida has focused on strengthening fraud enforcement, Georgia lawmakers have focused on reimbursement rates, even as industry representatives testified that use of autism therapy services has increased by more than 300% in recent years.

The debate reflects the difficult balance between rooting out fraud and preserving access to a therapy that many families say has been life-changing for children with autism.

This article was written by

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