Tag: Recreational Marijuana

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is Part Steve Jobs, Part Wizard

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This digital jersey witchcraft comes just a couple of days after ESPN reported how badly the NFL has been trying to convince him to sack Roger Goodell and become commissioner of the NFL.

Just look at the growth of the NBA under Silver:

“League revenues have increased from $4.8 billion to a projected $9.1 billion in Silver’s five years.”

and the growth of individual teams as well:

“Team valuations have increased by 267 percent, from an average of $509 million in 2013 to $1.9 billion in the latest Forbes Magazine valuations.”

The NBA has become the most popular sport in the world for anyone under the age of 25 and its not even close. The NBA and Fortnite are what kids care about and not necessarily in that order. I went to a youth basketball game last night and the effect is real:

A lot of that credit has to go to Adam Silver. Sure players not having to wear helmets that hide their face helps, but he’s made the NBA the most marketing friendly sport we’ve ever seen. It routinely embraces cultural trends, technology, and social media, and he’s had the NBA at the head of the line for two of the biggest opportunities in America: esports and legalized gambling.

I’m calling it right now. As the most progressive league in professional sports, the NBA will be the one to partner with the first national marketing campaign for recreational cannabis. Oh the NFL banned a marijuana commercial? Well Adam Silver will use that opportunity to make anyone even associated with the league even more money.

Just patently absurd how good this man is at his job and he ain’t resting. I still hate the advertising patches on jerseys and expect it to only get more distracting, but hey money talks.

Calvin Johnson is Being Barred from the Recreational Marijuana Business Because of an Old Traffic Ticket

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Yahoo – Calvin Johnson, and his old Detroit Lions teammate Rob Sims, are trying to get in the Michigan marijuana business. Their application for prequalification for a marijuana dispensary, grow operation and marijuana processing facility was denied however, in part because of an old traffic ticket Johnson said he forgot about…

According to Gray’s story, Johnson and Sims were denied prequalification status by the Michigan Medical Licensing Board because of some old, minor issues.

In Johnson’s case, it was an outstanding “failure to maintain lane” ticket from July 2014 in Atlanta. A spokesman for Johnson said he was unaware of the ticket and as soon as he heard about it, he flew to Georgia to take care of it…Still, they were denied.

“One is nine years old and one is four years old and there are warrants out,” board member and retired Michigan State Police officer Donald Bailey told Gray. “They’re minor, maybe even meaningless, but the problem is their response. We’re entering this highly regulated market. And if this is their response, that’s a problem for me.”

What a bunch of horse shit this is huh?

Whether you’re pro-weed or anti-weed, one thing you cannot deny is the absolutely absurd amount of money that it will generate. Not only for the business owners, but for the states that welcome these shops due to the crazy high taxes slapped onto every sale. I don’t know what it is in Michigan, but in Massachusetts it’s 17%. We still have the pearl clutching though, even as politicians plan on how to spend all that new money they’re suddenly flush with.

“Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said he hoped the the tax revenue from marijuana in Massachusetts would be worth the “human toll.”

Give me a break, Marty. Just look at the green Massachusetts has already raked in.

“Customers bought more than $4.8 million in marijuana in the first 12 days at the first two shops that opened for adult-use sales.”

And that’s with just two stores open. Insane.

Back to Calvin Johnson’s case though, this has been a problem for a lot of people trying to get into the business and it’s hard to ignore the hypocrisy of it all. The number of well off entrepreneurs with some money that are going to make even more money selling a product that tons of people got locked up for using and are are now unable to sell said product (because of those arrests) now that it’s actually legal is wild.

Now I’m not going to shed any tears for Calvin Johnson seeing as the guy made over $100 Million in his football career, but it does make you think about who will be getting shafted trying to get into the gold rush that will be recreational marijuana.