New York Giants legend wide receiver Victor Cruz knows how important it is for a kid to look their best on the first day of school. 

In the back-to-school spirit, Cruz and his foundation, The Victor Cruz Foundation, teamed up with Foot Locker this past Saturday and provided 25 kids from his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey, a shopping spree at the Foot Locker 34th Street Flagship store in New York City. 

After getting a speech from Cruz, each kid was given a personalized shopping experience with Cruz and Foot Locker employees to buy whatever they wanted for their back-to-school outfits. 

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“It was great partnering with Foot Locker and my Victor Cruz Foundation to give kids from my hometown of Paterson, New Jersey a personalized shopping experience that they will never forget,” Cruz told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

“Back to school season is always a time for kids to get creative and show off the newest additions to their wardrobe, something they can especially do now thanks to their new picks from Foot Locker. I love giving back to my community and this event was a special moment for all that were involved.”

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Cruz, who won Super Bowl XLVI in his second season with the Giants, attended Paterson Catholic in high school. He has always been one to give back to his community, especially since he hung up his cleats after six NFL seasons in New York. 

Cruz went undrafted out of UMass in 2010 and eventually signed with the Giants, who were located just a few minutes away from Paterson in East Rutherford. He became a fan favorite almost immediately when he burst onto the scene in preseason games, leading to the Giants selecting him to their 53-man roster that year. 

Cruz’s signature salsa dancing in the end zone led many in the tri-state area to try it themselves during their pee wee football games, tailgates at MetLife Stadium and more. 

Cruz finished his career with 303 receptions, 4,529 receiving yards and 25 touchdowns.

Now, he dabbles in everything, from fashion to sports media. His Victor Cruz Foundation continues to focus on the next generation as this shop-till-you-drop experience for some hometown kids creates memories for life. 

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In just a few days, football fans all over the United States will have their fridges stocked with beer, their coffee tables mounted with mini hot dogs, chips, and wings, and everyone will be on their phones to check their bets and fantasy football teams as Scott Hanson introduces all to one of many Octoboxes on NFL RedZone.

Those have always been a staple for football Sundays, but one of those has become much more prevalent in recent years.

Prior to May 2018, placing wagers on sports was legal in only four states, yet it seemed like you could only place spread bets and over/unders in Vegas. Today, it is legal in 34 states, and countless online sportsbooks are available at the touch of a phone.

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One of those books is now owned by YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, whose Betr launched in 2022 as the first direct-to-consuder micro-betting focused sports betting and media company.

With Week 1 of the NFL season, sportsbooks are foaming at the mouth of how much money they are about to bring in for the next few months.

However, Paul, of course, wants you to get with his platform.

“I love fantasy sports and playing fantasy sports. Basically, we wanted to create the best fantasy sports product. And I feel like that’s exactly what we’ve done,” Paul told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “We’re offering 100x multipliers on slips, where other companies are offering only 25x multipliers. We have the fastest payouts, no pushes. 

“I always would think it’s the most annoying thing when I’m about to win a slip, and it would push. So we got rid of pushes, and really just think it’s the best fantasy product available. Just excited. Because this is the first opportunity where users actually get to play it, because it’s NFL Week 1, so I’ve made some slips, and yeah, Betr Picks, everyone should go download it.”

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Paul himself already has a friendly wager. If Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill gets over 1,300.5 receiving yards, Paul says he will gift Hill not one, but two Rolex watches. He had a career-high 1,710 last season.

“We’ll see what ends up happening, but I’m down man… but I’ll probably have to buy two Rollies,” Paul admitted.

Paul said he has been playing fantasy football for “as far as I can remember,” but with the explosion of gambling, the amount of things to bet on is an uncountable number. A popular trend recently has been to bet on player props, which is all what Betr offers.

“I love the player props a lot. That’s where my heart lies right now,” Paul said.

The irony is all of this is Paul is a professional athlete – every professional league and federation has its own rules and regulations against wagering, but Paul has no worries that he would get in any trouble.

“We work super closely with all of the regulators, we’re highly, highly regulated. It’s just such a crazy industry. We don’t offer any sort of bets around my fights and stuff like that. We steer clear of violating any regulations or anything like that,” he said.

Paul, a lifelong Cleveland Browns fan, is taking running back Nick Chubb to rush for more than 88.5 yards on Sunday when they take on the Cincinnati Bengals. However, he also is taking Joe Burrow to throw for over 266.5 yards against his own team.

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The “Barbie” movie has experienced major success in the weeks since its debut – and it could prove a financial boon for the company behind the brand, Mattel. 

The film, which came out in July, has produced an eye-popping amount of money from the box offices around the world and drummed up positive attention for the Barbie brand. It is part of an effort that the California-based toy company has said it is pursuing to “grow Mattel’s IP-drive toy business and expand our entertainment offering.” 

The New York Times earlier reported on the “Barbie” movie’s impact for Mattel.

Mattel has observed the movie providing a “halo effect” for the brand, CEO Ynon Kreiz said during the company’s earnings call on July 26, five days after its release. 

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In connection to the “Barbie” film, Mattel put out special merchandise and partnered on consumer products over 165 times, Ynon said at the time. The partnerships involved “cross category displays in thousands of stores globally.”

“Initial take-up in movie related product has been selling out very fast, we’ve said that before. In terms of the actual toy brands and over 165 retail partnerships that we’ve had, so we’ve seen very strong success of that,” Kreiz later said. “We haven’t commented yet on Barbie classic toys, which is what is factored into our full year guidance.”

The Barbie brand has generated billions in gross billings or sales in the last five full fiscal years for Mattel, hitting at least $1 billion in each of them. 

It brought in $459.6 million over the year’s first and second quarters, a figure that included $282.7 million from the second quarter and that was lower than the $598.8 million posted in the six-month period last year, Mattel said July 26 in a press release.

“Our guidance includes expectations for significant growth for Barbie in the second half and to be positive for the full year, certainly with the halo effect of the movie and its economics benefiting Mattel over the next several quarters and years,” Richard Dickson, then-COO at Mattel and now-CEO of Gap, told analysts and investors on the earnings call in late July. 

On the box office front, the “Barbie” movie directed by Greta Gerwig and featuring Margo Robbie has seen box office grosses totalling $1.385 billion as of Thursday, according to Box Office Mojo. Roughly $613 million of that comes from domestic ticket sales, while international generated the other nearly $772 million.

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Mattel has a deal with Warner Bros. that entitles the toy company to 5% of what “Barbie” makes in ticket sales, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed sources “with knowledge of their agreement.” Its windfall from “Barbie” will also come from movie profits and IP-related payments, according to the outlet. 

CFO Anthony DiSilvestro reportedly projected the revenue that Mattel will see in connection to the film would come in around $125 million while participating in a Thursday conference event.

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In late July, Kreiz said Mattel planned to take the strategy it used for “Barbie” and “execute the same strategy, the same approach, the same methodology in collaborating with top talent … and then bringing our marketing machine and demand creative capabilities to create special, iconic moments in culture” in the future. He said the company “hope[s] to achieve more with Barbie and other brands.”

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