Beats by Dre is the unarguable winner of the NFL’s decision to fine players for wearing non-sponsored headphones.

This fact becomes more and more apparent with each passing day.

It doesn’t matter if San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick uses tape to cover the distinct Beats logo.

The headphones’ have enjoyed a great deal of free publicity. The kicker? Much of it is due to the NFL’s knee-jerk reaction rather than the preferences of the organization’s athletes.

Someone really should have explained the Streisand Effect to Roger Goodall before allowing the company to give in to Bose and poorly address the Beats headphones situation.

The Streisand Effect gets its name from the bizarre situation back in 2003 that involved Barbra Streisand, her home, and photos of it on a private beach:

As explained in the video, it’s what happens when you try to suppress or eliminate the problem, but make it FAR worse instead.

In the case of the NFL and Beats headphones, the company probably thought that a fine would solve the problem.

Instead, players continue to wear Beats products, and their defiance makes the headphones THAT much more desirable to sports fans and impressionable onlookers alike.

“Wow, Colin is willing to risk being fined THOUSANDS of dollars over Beats headphones! They must be really great and much better than Bose!”

That is, unfortunately, the message that this entire debacle has sent out.

The Beats by Dre co-founder is ecstatic that the NFL is banning the headphones. http://t.co/7pvyM2rvfD pic.twitter.com/QbFwkM1nw8

— Sporting News (@sportingnews) October 16, 2014

The only way the NFL can get around this is to either (1) do away with fines and quietly pay Bose some sort of compensation or (2) read the writing on the wall and drop the company as a sponsor.

Their current treatment of Beats headphones is only going to make the matter worse, not better.

Do You Think The NFL’s Beats Headphones Ban Falls Under The Streisand Effect?