The Oakland Ballers, an independent professional baseball team, announced it will host a cannabis-themed game night on July 31. The event, billed as a "historic first" in professional baseball, is a collaboration with Oaksterdam University, a cannabis college.
The team will temporarily rebrand as the "Oaksterdam Blazers" for the occasion and wear custom uniforms. The game is scheduled for "Grateful Dead Night."
Initially conceived as an April Fools' Day joke, the team decided to move forward with the event due to enthusiastic fan response. According to the team's press announcement, the July 31 event is intended to be "safe, inclusive and age-appropriate."
Event Details
For adults 21 and older, the day includes a tour bus departing at 10 a.m. PT to visit a local dispensary and participate in a lounge crawl featuring Oakland-certified cannabis businesses. This pre-game experience aims to highlight entrepreneurs and advocates within Oakland's legal cannabis industry.
While the lounge crawl is restricted to adults, the Ballers emphasized that the ballpark environment will be suitable for families. Any cannabis industry-related activations at the stadium will be opt-in and require age verification for those 21 and older.
Oaksterdam University promoted the event on its website, referring to it as "the first family-friendly cannabis industry event in America."
Industry Precedents
While the Oakland Ballers' event is being presented as a landmark occasion, other professional sports teams have engaged with the cannabis industry. In 2024, the Portland Pickles reportedly became the first U.S. sports team to sell THC products at a live sporting event. In 2022, Major League Baseball (MLB) signed a sponsorship agreement with a CBD company, marking the first such deal for a major professional sports league.
The event also underscores Oakland's historical role in the marijuana legalization movement. California legalized medical marijuana in 1996, and Oakland became the first U.S. city to regulate medical cannabis dispensaries in 2004. Statewide legalization of recreational marijuana use for adults followed in California in 2016.