Major League Baseball (MLB) is set to be a field of dreams for cannabidiol (CBD), becoming the first major professional sports league to form a sponsorship agreement with a CBD company. Charlotte’s Web (CW), a vertically integrated Certified B Corporation with revenue of $96 million in 2021, is now the first “Official CBD of Major League Baseball.”

In June 2022, MLB opened the category for the league and its teams, allowing sponsorships with CBD companies that are NSF Certified for Sport—a third-party certification program designed to reduce an athlete’s risk for anti-doping sanctions when using dietary supplements that have met required benchmarks.

MLB’s Due Diligence on CBD 

MLB’s Chief Revenue Officer Noah Garden said the league had been paying attention to the CBD market for a while. “As adoption and popularity has increased, we were also getting inquiries from our players about CBD use and which brands were allowable.”

MLB performed its due diligence by investigating the category and the potential health benefits of CBD, aimed at ensuring it could recommend a product to players that was safe and free of banned substances. 

Garden noted three “precursors” that ultimately opened the gate to the CBD category:

1. Passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, which removed hemp containing no more than 0.3% THC on a dry weight basis from the definition of marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA);
2. Removal of CBD from the prohibited substances list of MLB’s drug program in December 2019; and
3. NSF’s establishment of the NSF Certified for Sport program for CBD.

“We would not have made any changes if all three of these major steps hadn’t occurred,” Garden said.

MLB and its Players Association (MLBPA) agreed to several changes to its Joint Drug Program that took effect for the shortened 2020 season, including removal of natural cannabinoids (e.g., THC, CBD, and marijuana) from the Program’s list of Drugs of Abuse. Today, marijuana-related conduct is treated the same as alcohol-related conduct.

At the federal level though, marijuana remains a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance, something the Biden Administration has directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to review. More than two-thirds of Americans support the legalization of marijuana, according to a Gallup poll from November 2021.

Throwing a curveball at CBD excitement, FDA has continued to state that CBD cannot legally be added to foods or dietary supplements, effectively limiting the potential of the marketplace and sowing confusion. However, the agency has been exercising enforcement discretion, reserving most of its public warnings for companies that make egregious health claims.

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‘We can bring more consumers into our ecosystem as long as we, as an industry, come together through education and research.’ – Jared Stanley, Charlotte’s Web

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Embracing the Shift

Despite regulatory uncertainty that has limited the market’s true potential, CBD has sped ahead. CBD product sales in the U.S. reached $4.7 billion in 2021, according to the Brightfield Group.

More than 45 million Americans are estimated to use CBD, including athletes, noted Jared Stanley, co-founder and COO of Charlotte’s Web.

MLB is changing the landscape of sports by taking this step to embrace CBD, Stanley said. “It’s a true shift to wellness derived from the Earth versus a lab, and this is a historic moment for that reason.”

Given the number of products in the marketplace, Garden said, “Charlotte’s Web stood out as the industry leader with the highest standards of quality, a track record of success, and large groups of people who can point to tangible benefits from their CBD products.”

The CBD category is very crowded, Stanley admitted. “We sit in a place of more than 3,500 brands in our marketplace. For CW, it’s an honor that we’re at the forefront, and we’re in a leadership position.”

Charlotte’s Web is a science-driven company, Stanley added, that is also vertically integrated, “which allows us to have the highest level of competence in every step of our supply chain.”

Garden also pointed to CW’s knowledge of CBD and the company’s interest in educating players and staff on its potential benefits. “We look forward to working with CW on these educational initiatives and continuing to learn more about this growing industry,” said Garden.

In times of market confusion, Stanley offered, “simply put, leaders lead. And we’ve got to continue to lead with research and education to move the needle out of this clouded environment and into a place where consumer products are safe, accessible, and trusted. We can bring more consumers into our ecosystem as long as we, as an industry, come together through education and research.”

Stanley went on to say he’s “very hopeful” that regulatory clarity will develop “in the near future,” and “certainly in 2023.”


Daily Edge Sports Benefits

While speaking about the benefits of CBD for athletes and consumers, Stanley said, “We believe at CW that our mind and body balance are essential to top performing athletes and everyday consumers. We believe the game is played in the six inches between your ears.”

Alongside its partnership with MLB, CW has launched Charlotte’s Web Sport Daily Edge, the first-broad spectrum hemp extract to earn NSF Certified for Sport certification. The 25 mg CBD oil tincture underwent strict independent testing to meet MLB’s scientific benchmarks and no banned substances policy. The product will feature the MLB silhouetted batter logo on its bottle.

According to CW, Daily Edge is positioned to:

• Support recovery after exercise;
• Stay calm under pressure;
• Maintain focus when it counts; and
• Sleep like a champion.

“This product signifies the endorsement from MLB to move into the category, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg in our upcoming Sports line,” said Stanley. “We’ll be launching need-state gummies, sprays, and topicals in 2023, as well as powders and RTD (ready-to-drink) supplements to follow suit.”

The CW Sport line “will support mind and body balance to quiet the noise so that we can be who we’re meant to be,” he added.


NSF Certified for Sport: The ‘Gold Standard’

According to Garden, the current CBD marketplace “underscores the need for independent third-party testing and certification” to be confident a CBD product aligns with the requirements of the 2018 Farm Bill and is free of contaminants.

Stepping up to the plate to offer trusted third-party validation of product quality, NSF’s Certified for Sport was a natural place for MLB to turn, given its existing relationship.

“MLB and the MLBPA have jointly evaluated and agreed that the NSF Certified for Sport program is the gold standard for third-party independent certification, and we have a long-standing policy of only recommending or providing products to our players that are NSF Certified for Sport,” said Garden. “MLB and MLBPA also recently worked with USADA (the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency) and the Department of Defense to evaluate the essential features of a certification program.” Findings from that review were published in Current Sports Medicine Reports in May 2019.

Garden said NSF Certified for Sport is “vital to our own drug testing system, which is an important part of our league management and operations. Very simply, for pro sports leagues, they are the gold standard.”

Designed to reduce an athlete’s risks for anti-doping sanctions, NSF Certified for Sport encompasses three different elements, according to John Travis, principal technical manager, NSF Certified for Sport:

1. Good manufacturing practice (GMP) assessment;
2. Label claims compliance; and
3. Prohibited substances testing.

“NSF Certified for Sport is the symbol for dietary supplement quality for athletes and consumers alike,” said Travis. “It represents that an independent third party has evaluated the supplement and its manufacture, verified what’s on the label is what’s in the bottle, and that it is not contaminated with any of the 280+ prohibited substances.”

To gain NSF Certified for Sport status, product manufacturing facilities must be NSF/ANSI 455-2 certified for dietary supplements producers, or GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) registered for functional food producers.

Second, the product must be NSF/ANSI 173 certified, meaning products are evaluated for label claim accuracy and absence of contaminants as described in the standard. “For example, if a product claims to have 50 mg of thiamine, the certification requires that be verified,” said Travis. “Lastly, products are subjected to testing verifying that over 280 prohibited substances are not present.”

A New Chapter for America’s Pastime

Travis also said that “NSF is proud to play a role in this historic next chapter of America’s favorite pastime. MLB showed great trust in the NSF mark earlier this year when it named NSF Certified for Sport as the standard CBD brands must meet in order to sponsor MLB and its teams. The Charlotte’s Web and MLB partnership promotes clean sport and closely aligns with NSF’s mission to improve human health worldwide.”

Garden said MLB is “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.”

For CW, and CBD, it’s batter up.