Chicago Cubs premier MLB team partners with CBD

The premier professional baseball team officially signed a deal with a CBD company this week.

On April 7, the Chicago Cubs announced a partnership with wellness and recovery beverage maker MYND Drinks, enabling the hemp-based product to become the Cubs’ “Official CBD Partner” and the first major league CBD partner to be baseball (MLB) club. It’s a historic milestone when professional sports begin to embrace hemp and marijuana.

“When MLB opened the CBD category for its clubs, we were able to explore new partnership opportunities and offerings,” said Alex Seyferth, Chicago Cubs vice president of corporate partnerships. “We’re proud to be the first club to partner with a CBD company, but what was more important to us was making sure the brand fit right. MYND DRINKS is a Chicago-based company that promotes overall wellness and helps relieve everyday stressors, just like a 1:20 a.m. Friday game at Wrigley Field.”

The partnership opens doors into the world of sport, where unapproved drugs and dietary supplements are normally strictly prohibited.

The partnership will include various signage elements at the ballpark, including onfield baseline signage at Wrigley Field and “multiple in-game functions.” International marketing rights are also expected in the UK for the 2023 regular season, a first for the club. MYND Drinks won a 2022 World CBD Awards winner for Best Cold Beverage.

To kick off the partnership, the Cubs will be releasing a guided meditation on YouTube today, narrated by Cubs Radio Play-by-Play announcer Pat Hughes, and a Sounds of Wrigley Field Spotify playlist.

“We are so excited and honored to announce our partnership with the legendary Chicago Cubs and that they share our vision of health and wellness in major league sports,” said Simon Allen, CEO of MYND Drinks.

CBD is regulated differently As marijuana

Professional baseball is slowly adopting CBD. The 2018 Farm Bill opened the door to CBD sales because it finally allowed the government to differentiate between hemp, which in its natural form has no psychoactive properties, and marijuana. This allows major sports leagues to open the door to CBD endorsements.

In June 2022, MLB CRO Noah Garden said that two things are required if you want to do business in the CBD category: an NSF Certified for Sport® designation — which requires a relatively lengthy process — and approval from the Office of the CBD commissioners.

In this case, Mynd Drinks’ Elderberry Passionfruit, Orange Mango, and Lemon Ginger flavors met “the highest safety standards” and earned the NSF Certified for Sport® designation.

MLB removes cannabis from the banned list

MLB announced in 2019 that it would remove cannabis from its list of abused drugs, but added that they will continue to test for opioids and cocaine.

Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark said the league’s players “are overwhelmingly in favor of expanding our drug testing program to include opioids and want to take a leadership role in solving this national epidemic.”

The change was prompted by an opioid-related death of Los Angeles Angels’ Tyler Skaggs that shook the MLB community. It was announced five months after Skaggs was found dead in a Dallas, Texas hotel room. Skaggs, who was just 27, died after choking on his own vomit and was found by an investigator to have alcohol and two opioid-based painkillers, fentanyl and oxycodone, in his system.

MYND beverages are currently available on the website and at select retailers in Chicagoland.