Professional Sport Due Diligence: Professional Sportsmen and Sportswomen, Professional Coaches, Professional Clubs, National Associations, Governing Bodies and, importantly, Product Manufacturers.

The responsibility for due diligence cannot be abrogated by the individual sportsman or sportswoman and the liability for any transgression rests solely with the athlete, but the athlete relies upon you, their Coach, to guide them, to mentor them and to protect them from unnecessary risks.

From the moment that you consider advising any of your athletes to take any supplement, particularly one from such a new market and the CBD sector, you should be thinking about from whom you will take advice as to the described contents, the potential contents and the consequences to the careers of you and your athletes.

The responsibility for due diligence cannot be abrogated by the individual sportsman or sportswoman and the liability for any transgression rests solely with the athlete, but the athlete relies upon you, their National Association or Team, to guide them and to protect them from unnecessary risks.

From the moment that you consider advising any of your athletes to take any supplement, particularly one from such a new market and the CBD sector, you should be thinking about from whom you will take advice as to the described contents, the potential contents and their consequences to your athletes, and the reputational risk to your associated members and your Association.

The responsibility for due diligence cannot be abrogated by the individual sportsman or sportswoman and the liability for any transgression rests solely with the athlete, but the athlete relies upon you, the product manufacturer and the holder of the “keys to the data”, to guide them and to protect them from unnecessary risks.

From the moment that you introduce your product to the sports supplement market, or engage with athletes as to the contents of your products, or become aware that they might be used by such athletes, then you expose yourself to the risks consequent upon inadvertent mislabelling, or negligent mis-statement.

At The Canna Consultants we can provide independent advice to Product Manufacturers on all of the relevant issues, as well as undertake full due diligence on their products, their constituent ingredients and the providers of those ingredients.

A pertinent example from last year is Yoel Romero, a UFC athlete who secured damages of $27.45 million following a positive test for a prohibited substance due to the consumption of a mis-labelled supplement product. The Court ruled that he was entitled to $9 million in direct damages, but then awarded a further $18.45 million because the supplement manufacturer was aware of the presence of the substance, but failed to provide any warning of its presence. The three-year saga did not end happily for anyone: the company went bankrupt, all of its staff lost their jobs and Romero did not receive a cent of his damages award.

We repeat what is necessarily becoming our well-worn phrase:

Be Careful Who You Listen To.

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