The NFL’s musical fascists have fined Colin Kaepernick $10,000 for wearing noise-cancelling Beats by Dre headphones. Did Roger Goodell really expect the San Francisco 49ers quarterback to listen to “Crazy Train” over the public address system for the 1,962nd time?
Similar to FIFA’s agreement with Sony at the World Cup, the NFL has entered into a deal with Bose. NFL players face fines for appearing on-camera at game-day facilities wearing Sony, Beats by Dre, or perhaps even these 86-cents headphones. Wear Bose or wear nothing.
Kaepernick enjoys an endorsement deal with the Apple-owned headphones. In contrast to Bose and Sony, which rule a fraction of the market dominated by the bulky, colorful headphones, Beats by Dre spends its sports sponsorship money on players instead of leagues.
“The NFL has longstanding policies that prohibit branded exposure on-field or during interviews unless authorized by the league,” a league spokesman explained in a statement. “These policies date back to the early 1990s and continue today. They are the NFL’s policies – not one of the league’s sponsors, Bose in this case. Bose is not involved in the enforcement of our policies.”
Surely the publicity means more than $10,000 in sales for Beats by Dre. Pay the man’s fine.
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