Bose just laid a major smackdown on Beats, courtesy of a new deal with the NFL which bars any non-Bose headphones from being shown during interviews on NFL broadcasts.
The wide-ranging agreement covers TV interviews during training camps, practice sessions and, of course, game day — extending from prior to kickoff through 90 minutes after play has finished.
Beats has already responded with a statement, noting that, “Over the last few years athletes have written Beats into their DNA as part of the pre-game ritual. Music can have a significant positive effect on an athlete’s focus and mental preparedness and has become as important to performance as any other piece of equipment.”
According to research from the NPD Group, Beats currently accounts for 61% of the $100+ headphone market in the U.S., compared to Bose, which stands at 22%. While that’s still a sizeable lead, however, it’s nonetheless bad news for Beats which has marketed itself as a must-have accessory for athletes since the very beginning.
Last year, Beats ran a TV commercial showing San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick drowning out the boos from an opposing team’s supporters by donning a pair of Beats by Dre noise-cancelling headphones.
This isn’t the first time that Beats has been sidelined by a rival headphone manufacturer, either. During the World Cup soccer tournament last summer, FIFA banned Beats headphones from the football pitch and official media events thanks to a licensing agreement with rival Sony.
Source: Re/code
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
12 responses to “NFL bans players from wearing Beats headphones on camera”
Like I’m going to look to professional jocks to find out what audio equipment I’m going to purchase. Yeah, right. pffffff. The whole thing is very junior high school.
If I was representing the players I’d be demanding each player gets a pair of Bose or refuse to go along. Headphones are not part of the uniform. This is a bogus rule.
No, on game day and while at an NFL facility the player is on the NFL clock. The League can tell the player how to dress. I suspect Beats gave the player free of charge its headphones to wear. I bet Bose will do the same. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo7zkd0kRS4
Looks like Apple/Beats is going to have to be proactive to license itself with other sports associations to get the jump on these competitors. I think it’s ridiculous that a company can get other companies’ products banned from player use. There will probably be a lot of blowback from the players on this agreement with Bose, seeing as Beats headphones have been the unofficial “standard” for the majority of players. It will be interesting to watch this thing play out.
Let’s see if someone wears a Beats shirt during training or for post game roundups.
NFL are Nazis. F off.
This kind of tactic will cause me to bye Beats headphones over Bose.
It really doesn’t matter since Bose isn’t “cool” it has superior sound quality and that’s how they should market and identify their product. Beats sell because of “cool” factor alone. I’ll bet the farm that Beats is #1on social media period, they have a significant lead just like the iPad does. But the sound is not up to par, if they don’t fix this issue soon they will lose their advantage. I for one will not be buying Beats anymore, I’ve already bought the in-ear twice and my Solo’s are just collecting dust. We’ll just have to wait and see what Apple does with the Beats brand, they certainly have the recourses to churn out a much better product.
Bose is overhyped and overpriced for what you get. There are a number of far cheaper alternatives that I think sound comparable or better than Bose.
No First Amendment for you!
this great opportunity, would that involve spending your waking life posting to comment threads about your shitty job opportunities and being despised by the entire human collective? Thought so
“Music can have a significant positive effect on an athlete’s focus and mental preparedness and has become as important to performance as any other piece of equipment”
– so why do they use beats when they are globally known as being awful irrespective of how much money you have?