Marshawn Lynch may have tried to ensure that he wouldn’t get fined by the NFL by simply showing up to Super Bowl Media Day but the NFL could still fine him for what he wore to his appearance.
Apparently, Lynch has now drawn the league’s ire for the hat he wore to Media Day. Instead of wearing an officially licensed Super Bowl hat, Lynch wore a hat with his own BeastMode logo on it instead. And since Lynch decided to wear the hat before getting approval from the league, he could face yet another fine according to Adam Schefter and Darren Rovell of ESPN:
Sources tell ESPN that, after the Super Bowl, the league will review whether the hat Lynch wore during the event was permissible. If the league rules that Lynch used Media Day to promote a brand that was not approved by the league, he could face a significant fine. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy declined to comment.
The bad news for Lynch is that the NFL has come down hard on players for not wearing officially approved gear to Super Bowl related events. Brian Urlacher was memorably fined $100,000 for wearing a Vitaminwater hat during a press conference for Super Bowl XLI. If there’s good news for Lynch here, it’s that his BeastMode hat is made by New Era, which is an official NFL sponsor (Urlacher’s fine was drastic because Vitaminwater was not an NFL partner).
Hopefully, New Era and Marshawn will make a “I’m here so I won’t get fined” hat if the NFL does decide to fine Lynch for his unapproved apparel so that Marshawn could recoup some of his losses.
