LeBron James gave each player on the Ohio State football team a pair of Beats Studio3 Wireless headphones prior to Saturday's CFP semifinal against Clemson, and "thanks to a loophole, the gifts are not an NCAA violation," according to Meredith Cash of BUSINESS INSIDER. James, a Beats by Dre endorser, "facilitated a connection" between the brand and OSU, and the company "donated the headphones to the Buckeyes program soon thereafter." The school is then "permitted to distribute the headphones to the players as part of a gift package for participating in bowl games" (BUSINESSINSIDER.com, 12/27). In South Carolina, Gene Sapakoff noted OSU can include the headphones in the bowl gift package "as long as the total wholesale value of bowl gifts does not exceed $550." Players from both OSU and Clemson "also received the official Fiesta Bowl gift package, including a Fossil watch, a bowl game history book, a backpack and an insulated bottle." James, a longtime OSU fan, "also gave the 2014 Ohio State team headphones ahead of their national championship game victory over Oregon in January of 2015" (Charleston POST & COURIER, 12/29). See a full listing of bowl game gifts in SBJ.
