The Battle Over Voting Rights Is Now Targeting College Football and Black Athletes

The NAACP is taking a civil rights fight directly to one of the South's most powerful institutions: college sports.

The organization launched its "Out of Bounds" campaign Tuesday, urging Black athletes, recruits, fans, alumni and donors to boycott athletic programs at public universities in Southern states it says are restricting Black voting rights through redistricting and other measures. The campaign targets universities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, according to Reuters. The Associated Press reported that the effort is focused on states where the NAACP says new maps and voting policies dilute Black political power.

The strategy is blunt: use the economic power of Black athletes to pressure universities and state leaders. NAACP President Derrick Johnson said Black athletes should not be expected to generate "wealth, prestige, and power" for state institutions while those same states undermine Black communities politically, according to AP.

The numbers explain why the campaign could sting. NCAA data show Black athletes make up 20% of all Division I athletes, but their presence is far more concentrated in the sports that drive television contracts, donor money and national attention. In 2023-24, Black athletes represented 44% of men's basketball players and 40% of football players across the NCAA, including 32,184 football players, the highest number in any sport.

Those sports are the financial engine of major college athletics, especially in the SEC and ACC. The NAACP is focusing in part on athletic programs that generate more than $100 million a year. A major study summarized by Journalist's Resource found that Power Five football and men's basketball revenues subsidize other sports and estimated that if revenue were shared like in professional leagues, Power Five football players would receive about $360,000 a year and basketball players nearly $500,000.

The boycott also lands at a moment when college athletes have more leverage than ever. A federal judge approved a $2.8 billion settlement last year allowing colleges to begin paying athletes directly, with schools able to share up to $20.5 million annually with players. That new era makes recruiting, transfers and athlete influence even more important.

The South's public universities have produced some of the most famous Black athletes in American sports, from Bo Jackson at Auburn and Emmitt Smith at Florida to Shaquille O'Neal at LSU, Deion Sanders at Florida State and Vince Young at Texas. Their success helped turn Saturday football and March basketball into billion-dollar cultural machines.

The NAACP is now asking the next generation of athletes to see that power as political capital.

The campaign follows the Supreme Court's weakening of a key Voting Rights Act provision and a new wave of redistricting fights across the South. The Congressional Black Caucus has also pressured major athletic conferences to speak out, warning that lawmakers could oppose college sports legislation if conferences remain silent.