The National Football League has banned the use of the ultra-popular headphones, Beats by Dre.
That’s because the NFL has struck an exclusive deal with the struggling competitor Bose in a deal that was struck back before the season started. As a condition of that agreement, Bose’s headphones would be the official headphones of the league.
The NFL ban reportedly goes into effect immediately.
Beats Electronics has worked extensively to get athletes wearing its product, featuring stars like Colin Kaepernick in its advertising, and sponsoring numerous others.
The deal will prevent players from using the headphones specifically while they’re on camera, as that is vital publicity for Bose, which ranks far behind Beats in the headphones market.
Though Beats by Dre are expensive — headphones costing $100 or more — Beats dominates with 61 percent of the market share, compared to Bose’s 22.
Most consumers forgot that Apple bought Beats by Dre back in May for a whopping $3 billion, citing the company’s headphones and music streaming service as reasons for the acquisition.
TechCrunch later updated its story to say Beats would be gradually rolled into iTunes instead. Another important thing to note is this isn’t the first time a major sporting body has decided to ban Beats.
FIFA tried a similar tactic as the NFL’s ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but prominent players, including Mario Balotelli and Neymar defied that ban and visibly wore the headphones.
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