MLB Ventures Into CBD Territory Via ‘Game-Changing’ Charlotte’s Web Alliance
Wednesday, October 12, 2022 at 06:48PM By Barry Janoff
October 12, 2022: Calling it a “landmark partnership in baseball and sports,” MLB today unveiled a multi-year partnership with Charlotte's Web Holdings, a market leader in hemp-derived CBD products, naming it the ‘“official CBD of Major League Baseball.”
MLB said the move makes it the “first major professional sports league to form a sponsorship agreement with a CBD company.”
The deal is also the first league-wide partnership for Denver-based Charlotte's Web.
The partnership includes MLB becoming a strategic partner in Charlotte's Web's NSF-Certified for Sport line.
In 2019, MLB and the MLB Players Assn. removed cannabis from the league’s list of banned substances.
This past June 2022, MLB officially opened the CBD category for the league and its clubs, allowing sponsorships with CBD companies that are NSF Certified for Sport.
NSF International is a global third-party organization that “establishes standards for safety, quality, sustainability, and performance and certifies manufacturers and products against them.”
MLB and Charlotte’s Web cited reports showing the U.S. CBD market topped $4.7 billion in total sales in 2021.
"As a leader in the CBD category, with products that provide health and wellness benefits, Charlotte's Web is a welcome addition to the MLB family, representing a landmark partnership in baseball and sports," Noah Garden, MLB chief revenue officer, said via the league. 
"Charlotte's Web products which receive the NSF Certified for Sport designation have met the highest safety standards and can be promoted across MLB events and media platforms. We are excited about the possibilities this partnership offers as CBD becomes a more widely adopted part of the health and wellness regimen of our players and fans."
The partnership supports the launch of Charlotte's Web Sport-Daily Edge, which the company said is the “first broad-spectrum hemp-derived tincture to be Certified for Sport by NSF.”
Charlotte's Web Sport-Daily Edge will feature the MLB silhouetted batter logo on its bottle and also includes gummies, topicals and oral sprays.
MLB said that Charlotte's Web would have brand presence at MLB Jewel Events including All-Star Week, playoff games and the World Series presented by Capital One via marketing, media and ballpark activations.
Marketing support also includes a sweeps in which Charlotte's Web is offering a 2022 World Series experience for a Grand Prize winner and guest, including game tickets for two, airfare and hotel. (Details here.)
"Nature is the most intelligent and advanced technology system in our world, and when we work with nature for health and innovate through the lens of community care, we can truly redefine what it means to be well as an athlete,” Jared Stanley, co-founder, COO Charlotte's Web, said via the brand.
“This is game-changing, and I am excited by what we can accomplish with the MLB partnership.”
Charlotte's Web said it would issue 6,119,121 common shares of the company — which represents approximately 4% of the outstanding common shares — to MLB.
Charlotte's Web has also agreed to “certain revenue sharing rights on MLB/Charlotte's Web co-branded products, and agreed to make certain rights fee payments to MLB through Dec. 31, 2025.”
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