NFL removes Sony headphones from Seahawks player

National Football League (NFL) officials asked Seattle Seahawks American football player Richard Sherman to remove Sony-made headphones because they violated a sponsorship deal with rival Bose.

Sherman, who plays as a cornerback, was asked by a reporter during a press conference to watch a video on his iPad, and he put on Sony headphones to listen to the music.

But an NFL official then interfered and removed the headphones because they contravened a sponsorship deal the organisation has with the electronics company Bose.

It meant Sherman had to listen to the video on the iPad’s speakers.

Companies that sponsor major sporting events can be sensitive about so-called ambush marketing, although there is no suggestion here that Sony was engaging in that practice.

Bose signed an exclusive sponsorship deal with the NFL in March. The deal means players and coaches can wear only Bose headsets during games and in a pre and post-match interviews.

The incident, on Tuesday (January 27), came in the build-up to the Super Bowl, which is the final game of the NFL season. It is contested between the winners of the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference, both owned by the NFL.

The game will be played between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots on Sunday (February 1) in Glendale, Arizona.

A similar incident occurred in October when Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers team wore a pair of pink Beats headphones instead of the NFL-approved Bose headset. Kaepernick was fined $10,000.

Ambush marketing is a concern across other sports. In 2014, officials from the football World Cup organiser Fifa investigated an incident where the underwear of Brazilian player Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior was revealed as bearing the design of clothing company Blue Man. Blue Man was not an official sponsor of the World Cup.