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World Cup players not allowed to wear Beats in stadium during games due to FIFA/Sony deal

Despite having what some consider the best ad celebrating the World Cup this year, Beats headphones cannot be worn by players in the stadium during the games or media events according to Reuters. The rule is implemented by FIFA, the international governing body over the sport, due to a licensing agreement with Sony which obviously competes with Beats in the headphones space. Despite the apparent ban this year, Beats has still been able to leverage the World Cup as an opportunity to pick up some product endorsements…

We showed you earlier this month Beats’ theatric ad called “The Game Before The Game” promoting the World Cup as Apple enjoyed several cameo appearances during the short film. Since being published to YouTube on June 5th, Beats’ ad for the World Cup has been viewed over 15 million times.

Apple, of course, announced plans to purchase Beats Electronics and Beats Music for $3 billion at the end of last month, and Apple CEO Tim Cook celebrated Beats’ World Cup ad publicly with a tweet: “The team at Beats captures it perfectly. A must watch before World Cup.”

Beats Music even released an exclusive Jay Z remix of the track “Jungle” featured in the company’s World Cup ad further promoting the event and aligning itself with the players.

The likely scenario here is despite players not being allowed to wear Beats headphones in the stadium during the matches and press events, the headphones company probably won’t lose very much momentum from the World Cup considering the rest of its marketing strategy.

Don’t miss our guide to following the World Cup from home with your iPhone or iPad as the games continue to play out… and yes, it’s Beats compatible.

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Comments

  1. Taste_of_Apple - 10 years ago

    Reblogged this on Taste of Apple and commented:
    Hasn’t stopped Beats from stealing the thunder from Sony with their ads.

  2. gjconstructs - 10 years ago

    Interesting to see how they intend to police this.

  3. jpintobooks - 10 years ago

    Such a stupid and authoritarian rule. Shame Sony.

  4. jrox16 - 10 years ago

    This is just great free advertising for Beats, LOL.

  5. Luis Enrique Castro - 10 years ago

    Just to be constructive, Does Sony give FREE high end headphones to the players??

    • Dimitri Kyriakis - 10 years ago

      Under the contract yes. The players have a choice on which headphones they want. It can be earbuds, headphones, High end DJ headphones.

      Same thing happened with Blackberry teamed up with MLSE here in Toronto. Also Sony does this a lot in Europe as well.

  6. Yunhua Ji - 10 years ago

    Now Sony becomes a name similar to Samsung… How pathetic… Sony should be way superior…

  7. Johann (@JoFromPe) - 10 years ago

    It’s ridiculous. Is a player/manager allowed to answer an iPhone while in the Stadium.

    • herb02135go - 10 years ago

      Would it be ridiculous if it was the other way around?
      It’s business. Happens all the time. Your just whining.

  8. George (@georgemag) - 10 years ago

    Ironically Sony is only featuring their 4K Displays on the digital banners bordering the playing field and there’s no presence of the their Audio gear or the Playstation 4.

    • Dimitri Kyriakis - 10 years ago

      That is because 4K Tv’s are what are new now to the world. The PS4 came out last year. Also here in Canada i have seen CBC advertise some Sony commercials with the PS4 & Fifa in it. It all depends on what Sony wants to put to advertise

  9. Brian Ramage (@BJMRamage) - 10 years ago

    Samsung didn’t want athletes to bring in iPhones (or non-Samgsung phones) into ceremonies or the winter games.

    • Dimitri Kyriakis - 10 years ago

      Its called Business. Blackberry does the same thing & many companies only let their employes use Blackberry for instance.

      Sony does this alot in Europe as Sony is mostly a high in Europe. Samsung & the rest seen that they do it & followed.

  10. JD (@jandavidjansen) - 10 years ago

    Or else what, exactly?

    • Dimitri Kyriakis - 10 years ago

      Nothing will happen to the players but the team it self will get a Warning / Fine from Fifa. All teams are told about the deal weeks in advance. Sony & Fifa made this deal weeks / Months before the world cup started. So all team coaches & players know not to use them.

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.