Cannabis advertising has reached one of the most visible platforms in professional sports.
A commercial from New York cannabis retailer Strain Stars is now airing during New York Mets broadcasts, marking one of the clearest examples yet of legal cannabis entering mainstream sports media. For an industry that has spent decades fighting for legitimacy and access to traditional advertising channels, that’s a milestone worth paying attention to.
The Cannabis Ad That Aired During the Mets Game
The 30-second spot is a straightforward retail advertisement promoting daily deals at Strain Stars’ three New York locations in Farmingdale, Riverhead, and White Plains.
“Free items for the first 10 customers. At all three Strain Stars locations. Every single day,” one promotion states.
Another advertises a weekday happy hour special: “10% off orders over $150. Only during Happy Hour — 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Monday-Friday.”
The commercial also features cannabis flower displayed inside glass jars while upbeat music plays in the background.
There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking about the creative itself. It’s a fairly standard retail promotion that would look familiar to anyone who has seen advertisements from liquor stores, casinos, or other regulated businesses. The significance lies in where it’s airing.
Photo below were obtained by the NY Post.
Why SNY Matters
The ads have appeared during broadcasts on SportsNet New York (SNY), one of the most prominent regional sports television networks in the United States. SNY serves as the official television home of the New York Mets and reaches millions of viewers throughout the New York metropolitan area. The network has long been associated with Mets baseball and is one of the most recognizable sports media properties in the country’s largest media market.
For decades, this type of advertising environment was effectively inaccessible to cannabis companies. Professional sports broadcasts have traditionally been dominated by beer brands, automotive companies, telecommunications providers, financial institutions, sportsbooks, and other major consumer advertisers. Now, cannabis is beginning to appear alongside them.
Cannabis Has Entered One of Advertising’s Most Powerful Channels
Live sports remain one of the most valuable forms of media in the world. While audiences continue to fragment across streaming platforms, podcasts, social media feeds, and on-demand content, professional sports consistently attract large audiences watching the same content at the same time. That reality makes sports broadcasts some of the most sought-after advertising inventory available.
For cannabis companies, access to these environments has historically been limited by regulation, broadcaster policies, and broader concerns about public perception. The appearance of cannabis advertising during MLB broadcasts suggests that perception is changing. Whether viewers personally consume cannabis or not, the industry is increasingly being viewed as a legitimate commercial category rather than a fringe market operating outside the mainstream.
Following A Path Alcohol Paved Long Ago
The development also highlights a longstanding double standard between cannabis and alcohol advertising. Beer brands have been embedded within professional sports for generations. Walk through virtually any major stadium or arena in North America and alcohol branding is impossible to miss.
It’s on scoreboards. It’s on arena signage. It’s integrated into broadcasts. It’s featured in sponsorship activations. It’s advertised during games watched by millions of adults and children alike.
Many of the largest alcohol companies in the world have built decades-long relationships with sports leagues, teams, broadcasters, and venues. Their logos are visible throughout the entire fan experience.
Yet cannabis, despite being legal in a growing number of jurisdictions, has largely been excluded from those same opportunities. That’s what makes the Strain Stars campaign noteworthy. The ads themselves are relatively tame compared to what consumers routinely see from alcohol brands. There are no celebrity endorsements. No athlete partnerships. No massive sponsorship campaigns. No stadium naming rights. It’s simply a legal retailer promoting legal products to adults in a regulated market. And yet the campaign has generated significantly more attention than the countless alcohol advertisements that surround professional sports every day.
The Ads Still Operate Under Strict Rules
While the appearance of cannabis advertising during MLB broadcasts may seem surprising, the ads are still subject to significant regulatory oversight. In 2022, New York’s Cannabis Control Board approved marketing rules that permit cannabis advertising on television while prohibiting content that targets minors. The regulations ban the use of cartoon characters, celebrities, toy imagery, and other elements that could appeal to underage audiences.
The rules also prohibit marketers from promoting cannabis products using common slang terms such as “weed,” “pot,” “chronic,” and “stoner.” In other words, the ads airing during Mets broadcasts are not operating without restrictions. They’re operating within a framework specifically designed to permit adult-focused cannabis advertising while limiting youth appeal. That distinction is often lost in discussions surrounding cannabis marketing.
The Backlash Was Predictable
Not everyone is celebrating. Some parents and elected officials have criticized the ads, arguing that cannabis commercials should not appear during programming that attracts younger viewers and family audiences. Those concerns were almost inevitable. Virtually every major milestone in cannabis normalization has been met with similar criticism, whether it involved legalization, retail storefronts, public consumption policies, or broader advertising opportunities. For cannabis marketers, however, the backlash isn’t the most interesting part of the story.
The more important takeaway is that the debate is happening at all. Nobody questions whether alcohol companies belong in sports broadcasts because their presence has been normalized over decades. Cannabis is only now beginning that process. In many ways, the criticism reinforces the significance of the moment. Cannabis is no longer operating on the margins of popular culture. It is now appearing within one of the most established and widely viewed entertainment products in North America.
What Canadian Marketers Will Notice
The development is particularly noteworthy for Canadian cannabis professionals. Despite legalizing adult-use cannabis years before New York, Canada’s promotional restrictions remain among the strictest in the world. A similar retail-focused television campaign airing during a major professional sports broadcast would face significant regulatory challenges under the current framework.
As a result, some American cannabis markets are beginning to experiment with forms of mainstream advertising visibility that remain largely inaccessible north of the border. For Canadian marketers, the Mets broadcasts offer a glimpse into what broader cannabis advertising could eventually look like in a more permissive regulatory environment.
Bigger Than One Commercial
At first glance, a local dispensary advertising discounts during a baseball game may not seem particularly groundbreaking. For the cannabis industry, it is. The ad itself is ordinary. The placement is not. Cannabis businesses have spent decades fighting for legitimacy, visibility, and access to the same marketing channels enjoyed by other regulated consumer categories. Now, one of those channels has opened.
The headlines may focus on the controversy. The larger story is that cannabis advertising has officially reached Major League Baseball broadcasts — a milestone that would have seemed almost impossible just a few years ago. For an industry constantly searching for new ways to reach consumers, that may prove to be far more significant than the backlash itself.
Last Updated on May 26, 2026 by Colin Bambury
