CAREER CORNER BEHIND THE WHEEL ‘You just gotta Towing versus keep livin’, man’ miles per gallon Matthew McConaughey ere’s more to buying a shares what he learned during truck than color, comfort and the pandemic lockdown. cool factor. P3 P16 June 25-July 1, 2021 Vol. 47 | Issue 26 KNOXVILLE EDITION www.TNLedger.com The power of information. KNOX • ANDERSON • JEFFERSON • CAMPBELL • CUMBERLAND CLAIBORNE COCKE • GRAINGER • HAMBLEN • BLOUNT • LOUDON • MONROE • MORGAN • ROANE • SCOTT • SEVIER • UNION Ledger FORMERLY WESTVIEW SINCE 1978 ARE SPORTS FANS TUNING OUT? Falling ratings are a concern, but the problem might be a little more complex Story by Tom Wood begins on page 2 shutterstock.com ern Express, Inc, MILLENNIAL MONEY Hampshire Insurance Company, Western Express, Inc, Def Atty(s): John W Barringer, 08/30/2010, 10C3341 October 8 - 14, 2010 Patricia McClarren vs Star Insurance Company, Westwood Church Of Christ, Law & GovernmentPltf(s): James T Collins, Def(s): Star Insurance Company, Westwood Church Of Christ, Def Financial advice PublicAtty(s): David John Deming, 08/30/2010, 10C3343 Pltf(s): James A Richard Dicaire vs Cbs Personnel Holdings Inc, Cbs Personnel Services LLC, Kilgore Group Inc Collectively Staffmark, Staffmark Investment LLC, Records Pltf Atty(s): n/a, Def(s): Cbs Personnel Holdings Inc, Cbs Personnel from strangers 08/26/2010, 10C3303 Services LLC, Kilgore Group Inc Collectively Staffmark, Staffmark James T Collins vs Rogers Group Inc, Investment LLC, Def Atty(s): Stephen B Morton, 08/26/2010, Pltf Atty(s): n/a, Def(s): Rogers Group Inc, Def Atty(s): Heather E Hardt, 08/26/2010,inside 10C3308 & online James A Wells vs Jenco Construction Inc, Investors are ocking to Wells, Pltf Atty(s): n/a, Def(s): JencoTNLedger.com Construction Inc,Pltf(s): Def Atty(s):Judy R Lawson, Jennifer S White, 08/25/2010, 10C3282 Jessica Grimwood vs Intrepid USA Healthcare Services, Reddit’s r/personal nance Liz Pltf(s):Weston Jessica Grimwood, ........................................... Pltf Atty(s): n/a, Def(s): Intrepid USA 3 CommunityHealthcare Services, Calendar Def Atty(s): Clifford .......................... Wilson, 08/27/2010, 4 channel. But should they Judy R Lawson vs Nursing & Oneida, News PltfBriefs Atty(s): David ......................................... Harold Dunaway, Def(s): Nursing & Oneida, Def 6 Newsmakers .......................................7 trust the info dispensed. Jordan Sanders vs Dillons Welding Inc and Employers, P4 Public NoticesPltf(s): Jordan Sanders, ........................ Pltf Atty(s): Donald D Zuccarello,5, 11-14 Def(s): Puzzles ...............................................15 Page 2 www.TNLedger.com/Knoxville JUNE 25-JULY 1, 2021 shutterstock.com FANS SEEM TO BE FLEEING TV SPORTS But the bigger hurdle might be tracking them across newer platforms By Tom Wood college football and basketball, the Daytona 500, the NBA playo s, the NHL Stanley Cup – heck, even the Grammys, the Oscars and country music and emember the panic of 2020 when live sports disappeared awards shows – all experienced signi cant decreases in 2020 viewership. from our TV screens? March Madness? Gone. NBA? Nielsen ratings are a measurement that re ect a sampling of 40,000 homes and Multiple delays, game played in a “bubble” and a season that 100,000 people of the estimated 121 million U.S. TV households and some 300 million ended four months later than normal. Major league baseball? potential viewers. A 1.0 rating means 1% of potential viewers are tuned into an event. Reduced to 60 games beginning in late July and then played But don’t put too much stock into ratings declines, says Jon Lewis, a professor with cardboard cutouts of fans lling otherwise empty seats. at Northeastern University in communications and media with a particular RAnd then a funny thing happened when sports returned from COVID-19 focus on the sports. For both the TV industry and sports leagues, it is – as usual lockdown: Shockingly low ratings. Fickle fans had moved on. – all about the money. Gobs and gobs of greenbacks. But had they, really, or had outdated methods of measuring viewership “You can just look at all the money that the leagues are still making simply been exposed? with media rights deals and see that the networks and the leagues are not “A lot of us thought with sports being around during the pandemic, a lot of overwhelmingly concerned about the ratings drop,” Lewis says. “If they were, people would watch sports – and kind of counterintuitively, the numbers went you wouldn’t see the kind of money going out that we see going out. down,’’ says Vanderbilt communications professor John Koch, a senior lecturer “I tend to think that ratings are kind of a fun little parlor conversation that and director of debate whose areas of interest are public memory and the got way out of proportion with some of the talk we’ve had over the past year – intersection of political culture, rhetoric and sports. kind of using TV ratings as a substitute for political polls and stu like that. “In large part, due to a lot of di erent things, it wasn’t all just related to “Like … it just makes conversation about playing – you know, ‘my team is sports, either,” he adds. “ e primetime numbers for ABC and Fox and NBC more popular than your team’ or ‘my league is more popular than your league,’ and all of them were down, as well.’’ or whatever – that’s a very di erent thing than trying to extrapolate from the Super Bowl viewership dropped from nearly 115 million in 2015 to 99 TV ratings what people think about this social issue or that social issue.” million in 2020 to 96.4 million this year, the lowest since 2007. Likewise, the World Series (an all-time low 9.875 million viewers last season), TV RATINGS >> PAGE 8 JUNE 25-JULY 1, 2021 www.TNLedger.com/Knoxville Page 3 Not just for health care Old norms of hiring are crumbling How to harness your HSA’s Alright, alright, little-known superpowers alright: Life is If you have a high- growth can add up. deductible health Tax-free withdrawals your resume insurance plan, a health savings account As mentioned, withdrawals are tax-free Indeed.com hosted Indeed Interactive can help you pay your if used for quali ed medical expenses, recently with one very notable di erence: It medical bills. But including health insurance deductibles was held online. Conference attendees talked LIZ HSAs have hidden and copayments. e IRS maintains a about employment during the last year, and WESTON list of eligible expenses ranging from it mirrored many of our experiences. PERSONAL superpowers that FINANCE make them a great way acupuncture to X-rays. You can’t Pawel Adrjan and Daniel Culbertson, double-dip: Only eligible expenses that ANGELA Indeed’s labor economists, gave their for some people to COPELAND create a tax-free pot of haven’t been reimbursed by another CAREER predictions for the future of work, focusing money for retirement or other long-term source, such as insurance or a exible Ledger CORNER on work from home. goals. spending account, can justify a tax-free Job postings on Indeed.com with some In the right circumstances, you can withdrawal. The power of mention of working from home have even use an HSA to help your young e key thing to know, however, is information. continued to grow, tripling from early 2020 to now. adult children start saving for their that the IRS doesn’t require you to incur On the employee side, job seeker interest in remote work the expense in the same year you make Published weekly by remains high. Indeed is able to measure the interest in remote futures. Westview Newspaper, LLC Not everyone is a good candidate for a the withdrawal. work by the searches on its site. From early 2020 to now, job As long as the expense occurred seeker searches for remote work have more than doubled. high-deductible health insurance policy, 222 Second Ave. N. Suite 101 however. e minimum deductible that after you opened and funded the Nashville, TN 37201 What happens after the COVID pandemic is over? Indeed HSA, your withdrawal can be tax- (615) 254-5522 looked in areas in which cases of COVID have been low and quali es you to use an HSA is $1,400 FAX: (615) 254-5525 free even if it’s years or decades later, economies have reopened, nding interest in remote work for individual coverage or $2,800 for Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m family coverage. Many plans ask you to says nancial planner Kelley Long, a remains high, even after an economic recovery. CPA, personal nancial specialist and President & Chairman is represents a shift in long-term preferences, Indeed contribute even more before coverage Peter Schutt kicks in. consumer nancial education advocate contends, and job seekers will continue to demand remote work Publisher & CEO even after the completion of the pandemic. If meeting the high deductible would for the American Institute of CPAs. Eric Barnes be a hardship, or cause you to scrimp on You just need to keep the receipts for Associate Publisher But do employers intend for work from home to be permanent the qualifying expenses in case you’re & Executive Editor or temporary? health care, you’re probably better o Lyle Graves choosing a lower-deductible policy and audited by the IRS. [email protected] Indeed found that 61% of remote job postings in the UK were skipping an HSA. “I call this the shoebox strategy,” Long Planning Editor listed as temporarily remote. Companies expect employees to says. “You’re storing up your receipts Cindy Smith eventually come in person. If a high-deductible policy is a good [email protected] is also means 39% of jobs posted as remote will be t, you’ll need even more cash to take because there is no statute of limitations Contributors Chip Cirillo full advantage of an HAS, enough to on when you reimburse yourself for permanently remote, an increase from pre-pandemic postings.