Occasionally big time sports entities get the chance to step up and do the right thing for the right reasons. This is another one of those times.
In 2021 Major League Baseball decided to move the All-Star game out of Atlanta in the wake of restrictive voting laws that were passed that made it harder for minorities to vote. You can argue the merits of that decision, but at least MLB took a stand against something that a very large number of its players were concerned about.
In 2022, the NFL and NCAA in particular have a similar opportunity. Both organizations have made a big deal about being inclusive and supportive of women. Now they have a chance to prove they mean it.
The Govenor of Indiana and state legislature have become the first (but certainly not the last) group of backward thinking reactionary politicians to show themselves to be anti-woman. They recently passed a bill to ban virtually all abortion care in their state. As a result, businesses and corporations have begun to make noise about moving out of Indiana and taking their dollars and jobs with them.
This will hit Indiana – and all other states that are poised to do the same thing – where it hurts. Right in the economy. Sadly, that’s the only thing that will ever get their attention.
The NFL has done everything possible to make it front page news that they’re hiring women for high level jobs while working to promote diversity in every direction. The Denver Broncos recently added Condoleezza Rice, the former Secretary of State, to their ownership group and could very easily make her the new Team President when the new ownership group is fully in place. Other teams have already hired female executives and on field coaches.
For the league however, to continue to do business in a state that does not allow women to make their own health care choices would seem to send a very different message.
It’s time for the league to make a serious statement in support of women everywhere. There are a few things they can do.
While they cannot and would not relocate the Indianapolis Colts, the NFL could start by moving their annual NFL Scouting Combine, held each spring on the home field of the Colts, out of town and relocating it to say, Los Angeles…where the Rams and Chargers have a nice facility that can hold lots of prospects – and it’s not located in a state that’s anti-women. They could follow that up by announcing they’re eliminating Indianapolis as a candidate to host any future Super Bowls until all anti-women laws are repealed.
This would send a message to other states too: Anti-women laws will cost you big business.
The NCAA is in much the same situation. This is the 50th anniversary of the landmark legislation known as Title IX, which is widely credited with launching the growth of women’s sports nationally. The NCAA has been promoting the anniversary proudly, making every effort to boast about the growth and movement toward total equality between men’s and women’s athletics.
They can prove they mean it. A good start would be moving their national headquarters out of Indianapolis and relocating to nearby Chicago, for example. Remove Indianapolis from the list of places that could host the College Football Play-off. Then announce they’re stripping away any and all opportunities for Indiana – a state where basketball is king – to host any NCAA basketball tournament events as well.
The Big Ten conference should then announce they’re moving their lucrative football and basketball championship events out of Indiana, effective immediately.
This loss of revenue and prestige would be hard for the people of the state – the ones who’ve elected the politicians who push these decisions – to ignore.
And the movement doesn’t have to end there. The state’s biggest event, the Indianapolis 500 car race isn’t going anywhere of course. It’s too steeped in tradition. And the NBA’s Pacers will stay put too. But the NBA should relocate the league’s All-Star game that’s scheduled for Indianapolis in 2024 and move it to a location like NYC or Brooklyn, places where women’s rights are actually important.
For that matter, it’s hard to imagine the WNBA not wanting to pull their franchise completely out of a state that’s blatantly anti-female.
Heck, even Little League Baseball – and there’s nothing more American than Little League Baseball – could announce they’re moving their central region headquarters out of Indiana due to a law that a large majority of American citizens disagree with.
The PGA has already pulled events from properties owned by a well-documented promoter of lies, so they could very easily take the same stand against these kinds of laws and let states like Indiana know that they mean business…and are taking theirs somewhere else.
In recent years, sports has been used as an impactful vehicle for societal change. This might be the most important opportunity yet to do even more.
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