NCAA allows all athletes to wear patches supporting social justice, memorializing people

The NCAA has voted to allow athletes to wear patches supporting social justice and in memory of people.

(This post was originally published on USA TODAY Sports.)

The NCAA announced Thursday that players in all sports would be able to wear patches on their uniforms beginning in 2020.

These patches could be to support social justice causes or to memorialize a person or event. Patches were already allowed in some sports — for instance, all college football teams wore a patch commemorating the 150th anniversary of the sport in 2019 — but the rules expanded to allow patches both on the front and back of uniforms and to allow patches in sports where they were not previously permitted.

MORE: Harvey Updyke’s legacy is exactly opposite of what he wished

Patches on the front or sleeve must be no bigger than 2 1/4 square inches. Patches on the back can be placed where the name traditionally goes and can contain names or words. Such patches must be approved by the school or conference.

Many professional sports leagues, such as the NBA and WNBA, have already started allowing athletes to wear social justice messages on their jerseys. NBA players were required to choose from a preapproved list of social justice messages, while the WNBA decided it would specifically focus its messages around Breonna Taylor.

While the NCAA’s new rules allow teams to choose their own messages, any patches on the front or sleeve must be identical for all athletes who elect to wear them, and messages on the back must be approved by the school or conference.