Franchise sales are rising—and so is the legal liability hiding inside that growth. Leighton and Travis break down the FTC disclosure rules that motivated sales teams are quietly bending, why that compliance problem is almost never the root issue, and what the IFA convention in Las Vegas revealed about where franchisors are really feeling squeezed heading into 2026. Plus: why stable interest rates won't save a cautious consumer, and the AI strategy gap that had surprisingly little buzz on the show floor.