NFL will no longer let players rock “Beats By Dre” headphones

The NFL has entered into an exclusive partnership with Bose headphones. The brand will now be known as the “official sound of the NFL.”

But that means bad news for popular headphone maker Beats By Dre – which is popular among athletes including its commercials last season with Niners QB Colin Kaepernick and Seahawks corner Richard Sherman – One provision of the deal, no competitor product can be shown on camera. This extends to pregame warmups, interviews and any official NFL event – training camp and practice is included that.

In a statement to Re/code, an NFL spokesperson clarifies that this isn’t a Bose policy, but actually an NFL policy.

“The NFL has longstanding policies that prohibit branded exposure on-field or during interviews unless authorized by the league. These policies date back to the early 1990s and continue today,” the statement says. “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. This is true for others on-field.”

And Beats responded with its own statement, according to Re/code:

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.