Beats vs. Bose: An NFL Showdown

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Beats vs. Bose: An NFL Showdown image

Can the NFL actually fine players who wear Beats headphones? originally appeared on Quora: The best answer to any question. Ask a question, get a great answer. Learn from experts and get insider knowledge. You can follow Quora on TwitterFacebook, and Google+.

Answer by Carlos Torres

Yes, it is true.

Some interesting points about the Bose vs. Beats Battle:

Kaepernick was fined $10,000 for wearing pink Beats headphones in honor of breast cancer awareness. It could have been staged by Beats and Kaepernick beforehand, and Kaepernick will not say if Beats will pay the fine, but understand as people choose sides, Beats (owned by Apple) only paid $10,000 and Bose has to pay over $50 million a year. With social media, retweets and Instagram, it could be a brilliant marketing move by Beats/Apple.

In comparison, the NFL fined a player $8,000 for an illegal chop block, a maneuver which could end a player's career.

Panthers in Middle of Beats Vs. Bose Battle -- BBR

Cam Newton, Panthers quarterback who has a contract with Beats, gave the whole team a pair of Beats headphones last year. A couple of days ago, Bose sent every Panther player a pair of Bose headphones.

Apple's Beats settles suit with Bose over noise-cancelling headphone patents

As far as who wins the sound battle, if you read reviews, Bose is the better noise-cancelling headphone. You get a clearer sound and overall better sound. Beats win big in the marketing space. They are EQ'd for more bass and look better, which wins over young people and the 'hip' crowd. Beats is no slouch in the sound category, but many reviewers say you can get the same or better sound quality with other products priced less.

When something is banned, as Beats are banned for use at NFL events, it usually has the opposite effect: People desire that product more and since Beats already owns the cool factor, it just makes them more cooler. It could be the best marketing a product can get.  

Beats controls 57 percent of the of the premium headphone market, which is over a billion dollars each year. People have to wonder would a lesser-known football player get fined if he showed up at a press conference with a pair of Sennheiser brand headphones.

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