Another Wednesday, another delivery of your favorite newsletter. Let's dive into it.

• The NWSL domination: Gotham FC helped the league become a must-watch sport in the U.S. Now it aims to "shape the future of sports" around the globe.
• We interviewed a world-class adventurer: Reza Pakravan, the host of Discovery's Hidden Frontiers, once crossed the Sahara by bike. When he talks, we listen.
• The Cabot Collection empire: CEO Ben Cowan-Dewar talks destination golf courses, St. Lucia and creating a soul-stirring experience for visitors.

American Domination Is Just the Beginning for Gotham Football Club

“There’s always a demand spike during the World Cup and during the Olympics, and then there’s an amazing drop-off.” That’s Daniel Kelly, an NYU sports business professor, talking about the way Americans have normally treated women’s soccer. These days, though, there’s a seismic shift happening among the National Women’s Soccer League, which now feels like the most exciting thing in sports. Not just in the U.S., but around the world.

“The important thing to emphasize with the NWSL is not even just the fact that it’s exploding, that it has all this potential,” says soccer journalist Tamerra Griffin, “it’s that it’s here to stay.”

Leading the charge, as reporter Michael Stahl illustrates in today’s fascinating feature story, is the “super team” that is NJ/NY Gotham FC. If you’ve been one of the aforementioned fairweather fans, now’s the time to become a soccer supporter. American women’s soccer, specifically.

Yesterday we asked you if you watched the Met Gala. An overwhelming 72% of you did not, but hopefully you check out our coverage on Instagram. We're sure the 20% of you who only looked at pictures from the event on social media already have. 

Adventurer Reza Pakravan on the Most Underrated Corners of the World

For those who haven’t had the pleasure of tuning in to Hidden Frontiers on the Discovery Channel, meet Reza Pakravan — host and explorer. While that term, “hidden frontiers,” may seem a bit outmoded in the mid-2020s, in Pakravan’s case, it means exploring the known world in unthinkable ways.

We spoke to Pakravan to discuss the latest season of Hidden Frontiers, the pleasures of exploring the world’s remote corners and his newest discovery: the other side of Arabia.

IN THE NEWS

We've got another shameful stat about the Oakland A’s.

Sylvester Stallone’s watch collection is heading to auction.

Do you take your coffee with mushrooms?

Mistake fares aren’t just for air travel.

The upcoming NBA broadcast deal could tip things further toward streaming.

Cabot Collection CEO Ben Cowan-Dewar on Expanding His Empire

The minds behind The Cabot Collection of international golf resorts and real estate communities only build their properties where they feel they must. When a new scouted location demands a destination course and homes or hotels to bring players from across the world, Cabot invests in building the attraction.

Co-Founder and Cabot CEO Ben Cowan-Dewar oversees a listing of golf venues including Cabot Cape Breton – Inverness, Nova Scotia; Cabot St. Lucia – Point Hardy; Cabot Revelstoke – British Columbia; Cabot Citrus Farms – Florida; and Cabot Highlands – Scotland. He insists Cabot doesn’t need to expand from such strong transatlantic options, but sometimes he comes across locations that he wants to develop into bucket-list stops for travelers and golfers.

That was the case in St. Lucia, as the sweeping hillsides and rugged cliffs overlooking Atlantic waters come together to create a golf venue soon to be as storied as Pebble Beach Golf Links or Princeville Kauai. Cowan-Dewar sat down with InsideHook in St. Lucia to discuss a Cabot portfolio that expands only when compelled by Mother Nature.

The Bloody, Enduring Legacy of Tony Montana

When Pacino uttered the famous six-word phrase a bit more than four decades ago while portraying coked-out Miami drug kingpin Tony Montana in the 1983 classic Scarface, there was no doubt about the subject of his introduction: a Colt AR-15 equipped with a grenade launcher.

The bloody firefight that follows Pacino introducing his firepower-packing friend (who really isn’t all that little) results in mass destruction and multiple deaths, one of them being Montana’s. As author, film critic and NYU professor Glenn Kenny, who just released The World Is Yours: The Story of Scarface earlier this week, points out, Montana’s demise fits perfectly with how he lived in director Brian De Palma’s classic rags-to-riches crime film.

With The World Is Yours already on shelves, we spoke with Kenny about what it was like to spend all that time with Montana and Scarface‘s continuing significance four decades after its release.

The Best Rooftop Bars in Chicago

Any Chicagoan knows our warm weather days are numbered, which means you have to take advantage of the city’s best spots for soaking up the sun and the scenery. Many of the Chicago’s top hotels feature rooftop terraces with a front row seat to the skyline and the best people watching in town. Plus, there are plenty of neighborhood hangs with casual outdoor lounges to relax and savor a pre-dinner dram. Whether it’s a glimpse of the Loop, River North or the Chicago River you’re after, here are 11 places to enjoy your next brew with a view.