Could we soon see cannabis companies sponsoring professional sports teams, with cannabis advertising on team uniforms? While the concept is still brand-new, it looks like the future could very well be headed in that direction, as Star Buds became the first cannabis company to place its logo on a pro sports team uniform this week, according to a recent press release.
Schwazze, a multi-state operating cannabis company, made the announcement that its Colorado dispensary is the official sponsor of the Colorado Summit, Colorado’s first professional ultimate disc team. The team made history Wednesday when they revealed the first jersey in the history of professional sports to feature a cannabis logo.
Star Buds was established in 2013, offering a wide array of cannabis products and strains to Coloradans, including their signature Cannabis Cup-winning Pootie Tang sativa. Schwazze CEO and Chairman Justin Dye shared his excitement as the news broke.
“We’re incredibly proud to be the first cannabis company to sponsor Colorado’s first professional ultimate disc team and hope this will drive a movement toward the acceptance of cannabis in professional sports,” Dye said in a statement.
The news broke just in time for the Colorado Summit’s season, which begins Saturday, May 7 in Seattle at 6:00 p.m. MT. They’ll play their first home game on Memorial Day Weekend, Saturday, May 28 at 7:00 p.m. MT, at the University of Denver’s Peter Barton Stadium. Two of the team’s home games are scheduled for a national broadcast on FOX Sports.
Ultimate disc is a relatively new sport, first created in 1969. It has since become the fastest growing sport in the world, and it’s currently being considered for admission to the 2028 Olympics.
While the sponsorship and uniform logo made history, it’s also not the first time that a cannabis company has sponsored a sports team.
The Las Vegas Lights of the United Soccer League made a deal back in 2018 with the NuWu Cannabis Marketplace to allow the shop to advertise at the Lights’ stadium.
Mendi, the CBD brand of Rachel Rapinoe (U.S. soccer player Megan Rapinoe’s sister), has also sponsored two teams in the National Women’s Soccer League. The company also signed on as the official CBD partner of The Premier Lacrosse League in 2020.
The Big3, a three-on-three basketball league co-founded by Ice Cube, also signed a sponsorship deal with cbdMD in 2019. The league is composed mostly of retired NBA players and allows its players to use CBD for pain management.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship was one of the more recent entities to embrace cannabis, signing a five-year deal with U.K.-based Love Hemp Group PLC, which made the company the official global CBD partner for the UFC.
Cannabis in the sports world has been a hot topic in the last year, following the suspension of Sha’Carri Richardson for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to a positive cannabis test. The decision sparked global debate about sports policy and athletes using cannabis. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) even launched a scientific review of the policy.
A number of retired athletes have also spoken up about their use of cannabis and how it’s aided the chronic pain and physical symptoms they may face because of their profession.
While active NFL players are still not allowed to use cannabis, the league’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. WAllen Sillis told the Associated Press that they are always interested in options to improve treatment for acute and chronic pain in players.
“We always want to make sure that our players are receiving the most up-to-date medical consensus around any of these treatments,” Sillis said.
Earlier this year, the NFL announced they would award $1 million in research funding to two teams of medical researchers at the University of California San Diego and University of Regina. The studies will take a deep dive into the effects of cannabinoids on pain management and neuroprotection from concussions in football players, respectively.
With cannabis and sports becoming more intertwined, we could potentially see a future with more options for athlete relief and more cannabis advertisers on national stages, helping to further destigmatize cannabis use and promote its many benefits.
