It’s a nouveau trend in sports, where athletes are able to express themselves beyond the usual. Where in the professional ranks, shoes and the like are easily customizable — such as in the NFL with the “My Cause, My Cleats” initiative — we’ve seen the NBA take it to another level, allowing its players to add social justice messages via patches in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and the further emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Now could we see something similar in the college ranks?
That looks to be the case as the NCAA will now allow players across all sports not to just wear patches, but to change their nameplates to honor people, events or social justice causes.
The NCAA will allow student-athletes in all sports to wear social justice statements on their uniforms, including replacing last name with words to celebrate or memorialize people, events or other causes.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 30, 2020
So should football and basketball happen this fall, you very well could see a very different looking maize and blue crew, in the sense that assuredly there will be many who take up the mantle for Black Lives Matter, but other causes as well.
Your turn
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