The Patriots, “in an unusual departure" from NFL practice, have "created a revenue stream for a private business” owned by QB Tom Brady and a partner who “faced federal sanctions after falsely presenting himself as a medical doctor and deceptively promoting nutritional supplements,” according to a front-page piece by Bob Hohler of the BOSTON GLOBE. One “notable product” that Brady’s partner, Alex Guerrero, promoted was “marketed as helping to prevent and heal concussions, a grave health issue for NFL players and a challenge to the sport’s image.” The FTC “effectively shut down sales of Guerrero’s ‘neuroprotective’ drink, Neurosafe, in 2014, repudiating his ‘extraordinary claims.’” Nine years earlier, the FTC “sanctioned Guerrero, who doubles as a fitness specialist, for marketing a beverage made largely of organic greens that he falsely claimed could help prevent or cure cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and diabetes.” Guerrero’s past “has not dissuaded the Patriots from forging a business relationship with the company he owns with Brady, the TB12 Sports Therapy Center, at the Patriots Place complex adjacent to Gillette Stadium.” Since the center opened in ‘13, the team has “paid the company for Guerrero and his staff to provide treatment services and nutritional advice to multiple Patriots players.” It was unknown "how many players Guerrero and his staff have treated or how much money the Patriots have paid Brady and Guerrero’s company.” The NFL said that it is "aware of the arrangement and has taken no action, despite questions from some specialists in sports law and economics about whether teams should pay for services by for-profit companies owned by their active players and whether the relationship provides value to Brady that should be counted against the club’s salary cap.”
PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS: Hohler reported some of Guerrero’s former associates have wondered why Brady and the Patriots "would want to forge financial relationships with an entrepreneur whose history of legal trouble includes business partners accusing him of fraud.” The financial arrangement with TB12 has “continued despite complaints from the team’s medical and training staffs to Patriots coach Bill Belichick about Guerrero’s alternative health practices and questionable background.” The Patriots have “accommodated Guerrero, who is also the godfather of Brady’s son Ben, by dedicating a room at Gillette Stadium for him to treat players away from the regular medical and training staffs” (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/20).
NO TENSION TO SPEAK OF: Patriots President Jonathan Kraft, yesterday during the team’s pregame show on WBZ-FM said of staff concerns about Guerrero, “There’s no tension that I’ve ever witnessed or been part of. … They all work together really well.” Kraft: “Any time something becomes interesting to the media and people start to dig ... I haven't read the article. [Patriots VP/Media Relations Stacey James] told me about it and I heard about it, but I don't know of any tension and haven't seen any” (BOSTON HERALD, 12/21).
