A very happy Monday to you all. Today, we’re in New York together, where we’re talking about how the city is getting a new badminton-focused members’ club in 2027, RPS has learned. For a sport more commonly associated with backyard barbecues than private clubs these days, badminton has a surprisingly distinguished history in the city.
In fact, the first badminton club in America was founded in New York in 1878, when Bayard Clarke and E. Langdon Wilks, along with their sisters, established the “Badminton Club of the City of New York,” partly to relieve the boredom of Lent. Its membership would come to include some of the city’s most prominent families, including the Astors. By 1928, membership was capped at 200, and prospective members needed the personal acquaintance of someone on the seven-person executive board just to be considered (not dissimilar to other private clubs these days).
The dress code even had its controversies. Early members played in formal attire (ew), and there was even a whole situation when one particularly daring gentleman caused an uproar by removing his coat and vest before a match. It did not go over well.
By 1938, the newly established Manhattan Badminton Club had acquired its own clubhouse at Fifth Avenue and 109th Street. And now, nearly 90 years later, another club is preparing to bring badminton back into New York’s private-membership business. RPS has obtained details of the project, including its working name, approximate location, membership details, and yes, the Mahjong parlor.
Also in today’s letter: Michael Bloomberg is a married man, the Explorers Club’s London troubles deepen since my last exclusive, Scott Galloway’s Tesla confession, Steve Wynn slashes $20 million off his penthouse asking price, SKIMS advent calendar backlash, a Chinese spy scandal at Nvidia, come have breakfast with me next week, and more. After the jump.
