MLB's Kansas City Royals Partner with CBD Brand

Pure Spectrum, a Colorado-based provider of hemp derived tinctures, gummies, topicals, and isolates was announced an official sponsor of the Royals. The Royals are the second team to accept a CBD sponsor after the Chicago Cubs partnered with CBD beverage company MYND DRINKS two months earlier this season. These sponsorships follow last years announcement by Major League Baseball officials that teams would be permitted to partner with CBD products, shortly before striking a deal with Colorado-based hemp brand Charlotte’s Web was named the “official CBD brand of the MLB”.

The new sponsorship launched on June 2nd with the opening of a new lounge titled the Pure Spectrum Lodge at Kauffman Stadium, where the Royals will play at least 81 home games each year. The activation provides a place for fans to kick back, relax, and learn more about the world of CBD. Pure Spectrum was also the sponsor of Yoga Night at the stadium and will be the presenting partner for Ag Night on August 1.

“This partnership will focus on educating fans about their endocannabinoid systems and the potentials of CBD for overall wellness,” KC Royals officials announced on Pure Spectrum’s Instagram page

“As someone who grew up in Kansas City, this partnership with the Kansas City Royals is more than a ‘dream come true’ for me,” said Dan Huerter, CEO of Pure Spectrum, in a statement. “Our partnership with the Royals represents a monumental step forward for the entire industry and illustrates just how far we’ve come.”

Pure Spectrum has spent the last several years establishing itself within the athletics arena, sponsoring the CrossFit Games in 2018 and partnering with U.S. Olympic governing bodies like USA Triathlon and USA Weightlifting. The company’s 1250mg CBD isolate tincture was recently Certified for Sport by the National Sanitation Foundation, an MLB requirement for potential sponsorship by cannabis brands. To achieve this certification, products must be 100% THC-free and manufactured in GMP-compliant facilities.

MLB said last year that individual teams could start selling partnerships to cannabis companies. In order to do so, a prospective business’s products must be certified by NSF International, a consumer safety and product-testing organization to analyze and certify legal, contaminant-free CBD products in order to allow teams to store them on club premises. Each club must also receive authorization from the MLB commissioner’s office prior to any CBD deals.

Major League Baseball has been among the more progressive professional sports organizations in the U.S. when it comes to cannabis and hemp. In 2019 the MLB remove cannabis from the league’s list of banned substances. Before that rule change, players who tested positive for THC were referred to mandatory treatment, and a fine of up to $35,000. The following year in 2020, a memo clarified that players will not be punished for using cannabis while they aren’t working, although they would be barred from being personally sponsored by a pot company or hold investments in the industry.

Former athletes from across virtually all sports have been vocal about how much weed helps their bodies heal. Recently former NFL running back Le'Veon Bell recently said on a podcast that he smoked before games. Clearly major sports leagues are getting the message about allowing players to use cannabis, especially now as weed is legal for sale in 23 States (at this time) and the potential harms of painkillers are seen by more Americans as a bigger problem than weed.