Charles Woodson is joining the Cleveland Browns ownership group. Showing up in the owner’s suite, though, means he’ll have to take his face off his wines and whiskies.
Woodson—one of the greatest defensive backs in NFL history and an Ohio native—is set to purchase a 0.1% stake in the team from the Haslam family, a league source confirmed to Front Office Sports. The Browns are valued at $4 billion according to Forbes; that valuation would put Woodson’s stake around $4 million. The news was first reported by The Athletic.
The stake comes with contingencies in both his broadcasting career and off-field investments. Woodson works on Fox NFL Kickoff and will have to comply with the same restrictions as Tom Brady, who owns a share of the Raiders. The nebulous “Brady Rules” kept the retired QB out of production meetings and other teams’ facilities, among other things.
Woodson also has to remove his name, image and likeness from his alcohol brands because of the NFL’s alcohol policy. Woodson currently sells “Woodson’s Whiskey” and “Charles Woodson’s Intercept Wines.” A league spokesman clarified the NFL’s rules on owners advertising alcohol.
“The league’s policy prohibits any owner, regardless of the amount of ownership, to use his or her name, image, and likeness for promotional purposes,” the spokesman said in an email to FOS. “NIL could not be featured on newly produced bottles for example.” (The spokesman was strictly referring to the league’s alcohol policy, not a broader NIL rule.)
Woodson’s name is prominently displayed on his wine label while a picture of himself in his Michigan uniform is displayed on his whiskey bottles.
Woodson played 18 years in the NFL for the Raiders and Packers, winning Super Bowl XLV with Green Bay. His career earnings are nearly $98 million. While at Michigan, Woodson—in the same recruiting class as Brady—led the Wolverines to the 1997 national championship and won the Heisman Trophy the same year. He is a member of both the College and Pro Football Hall of Fames.
