NFL Punish Baker Mayfield For His New Endorsement Deal? | Sports Takes & News
The NFL Players’ Association is worried about a new endorsement deal that Baker Mayfield signed this week. They are so worried that and not sign any similar deals since Mayfield’s new deal is with a company that makes CBD products. The reason being that the endorsement deal may be in violation of the current collective bargaining agreement with the league; leading many to wonder if the NFL will punish Baker Mayfield for signing the deal. The question is, should the NFL even bother?
Baker Mayfield announced last week that he was the , a company that makes cannabidiol (CBD) products. Under the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its union, players are prohibited from appearing in ads or endorsing companies that sell “alcoholic beverages, tobacco, or cannabinoid products.”
Here’s where this becomes a complex situation for the NFL and the NFLPA: CBD products are made from hemp or marijuana. Most CBD products contain THC, which is what gives its user a sense of being “high,” with marijuana-based CBD items giving a stronger high than those made from hemp, which has a lower THC content.
On Thursday, just two days after Mayfield signed his new deal with Beam public, the union sent out a email to its members that read: “player endorsements of cannabinoid products are not advised by the NFL Players Association,” citing the language in the collective bargaining agreement. Mayfield admitted that he was first concerned about the stigma attached to CBD products, but with Beam, making their CBD products THC-free, the Browns’ signal caller felt comfortable becoming both a user an ambassador for it.
By the end of the week there was no indication that the NFL was investigating Baker Mayfield or that any punishment was forthcoming; that does not mean that the league can’t or won’t render judgement at a later date. Mayfield does join a growing list of players that include DeAndre Hopkins, Ezekiel Elliott, Rob Gronkowski, Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Ramsey who are all brand ambassadors for CBD-based product — so perhaps the National Football League has turned the other way to some extent by allowing players to make money and enjoy the reported (but not fully proven) medical benefits such as pain relief that CBD products offer users. And a look at the standings see Baker Mayfield and the Browns at 4–1 heading into week 6, which might be a good indication that the company that he is endorsing is also helping his play on the field.
It does look like the NFL is willing to walk the line between what its players want, and what it needs to do as a business to keep the federal government off its back and out of its business. This is why the rules about CBD products are in the collective bargaining agreement, but the NFL is able to only use it when a player needs protection from himself; otherwise, it appears that the motto “smoke’em if you got’em” might be in effect for NFL players as sports continues to mirror mainstream society, and its acceptance of CBD products.
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Categories: NFL New Endorsement Deals
Should The NFL Punish Baker Mayfield For His New Endorsement Deal? | TooAthletic.com
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