Players use biggest stage to deliver message
indianapolis » A social media effort to raise awareness about inequities in college sports by some prominent basketball players came with calls for rules changes and requests for meetings with the NCAA president and lawmakers. The players who got #Notncaaproperty trending on social made no threats of protests at tournament games, which start Thursday night and will have millions of viewers all weekend.
Following a year of activism in sports that included NBA players shutting down the playoffs after a police shooting, it seems fitting that college athletes would use March Madness to get a message across.
NCAA Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt, who communicates frequently with coaches, said Thursday he was not aware of any plans for players protests that could interfere with tournament games being played.
“Am I concerned? I would be concerned about any potential disruption, I guess, of games,” Gavitt said.
“I’m certainly not at all concerned and, and quite frankly, supportive of student-athletes using their voices for advocacy in issues that they are very passionate about. We have certainly seen that throughout 2020 in particular.”
Using the #Notncaaproperty hashtag on Twitter, players pushed for the NCAA to change its rules banning college athletes from earning money for things like endorsements, sponsorship deals and personal appearances, all encompassing revenue tied to their name, image or likeness (NIL).