NCAA President To Meet With Basketball Players Over #NotNCAAProperty Protest

College athletes are using the platform of March Madness to push for earning rights – and the NCAA has taken notice.

College basketball players, currently participating in the high-profile March Madness NCAA Basketball Tournament, started a social media campaign to protest against the NCAA’s amateurism policies. Using the hashtag #NotNCAAProperty, the players argued against current NCAA rules that bar athletes from making money from their own names, images, and likenesses as NCAA athletes.

In a typical year, the NCAA brings in upwards of a billion dollars between media rights, ticket sales, sponsorships and advertisements during the NCAA Basketball Tournament. But NCAA amateurism rules prevent athletes from earning any of that money directly.

With more athletes and observers criticizing that disparity, the NCAA has begun what it calls “modernizing” its name-image-likeness, or NIL rules. But that process was recently delayed. The NCAA postponed a vote on its modernized rules, saying that correspondence with the U.S. Department of Justice prompted the delay.

March Madness is one of the most heavily-televised NCAA events, and athletes are using that platform to voice their displeasure with the NCAA policies.

Top college basketball players including Michigan’s Isaiah Livers, Rutgers’ Geo Baker and Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon took to social media calling for a list of four pieces of action: (1) a July 1 deadline on allowing athletes NIL earning rights, (2) a meeting with NCAA President Mark Emmert, (3) a meeting with state and federal lawmakers about legislation, and (4) the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in favor of athletes in the ongoing Alston v NCAA case. (You can read more about that case here.)

#NotNCAAProperty pic.twitter.com/4oJewk9uT2

— Jordan Bohannon (@JordanBo_3) March 18, 2021

On the basketball court, Livers wore a T-Shirt with the #NotNCAAProperty hashtag on it during Michigan’s first-round game.

At least one of the four points is already in the works. Emmert will meet with a group of basketball players after the NCAA Tournament, The Associated Press reports.

The athletes fired back, thanking Emmert, but also criticizing his decision to delay the meeting by at least two weeks as the tournament progresses. “Can you please explain what you will be doing over the next two weeks that is more important than addressing these matters?” the players asked.

https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/1374454503567597587