The National College Players Association said Tuesday that NCAA President Mark Emmert reported a group of basketball players who launched a campaign on social media to protest inequalities in college sports that will meet with them after March Madness.
NCPA executive director Ramogi Huma said in a statement that he received a letter from Emmert in response to the advocacy group’s request for a meeting between the NCAA chief and three players who led the #NotNCAAProperty protest that began last week.
Through the NCPA, players had requested to meet with Emmert and one of the major NCAA lobbyists Tuesday morning.
Isaiah Livers of Michigan, Geo Baker of Rutgers and Jordan Bohannon of Iowa are pushing for the NCAA to change its rules restricting athletes from making money for personal sponsorship deals, online endorsements and appearances.
In a letter he responded to Emmert, the three players expressed their disappointment because he was waiting until the end of the tournament to meet and that he would only meet with the three players.
“Thank you for responding to our meeting request. We are disappointed with the intention to delay this important conversation for at least two weeks,” the players wrote in the letter Huma sent to Emmert. “From our perspective, it’s hard to imagine a higher priority you might have right now than addressing the concerns at the core of state and federal legislation on the rights of college athletes, an upcoming Supreme Court ruling U.S. on the economic freedoms of college athletes and the NCAA’s continued discriminatory treatment of female basketball players in their tournament.Can you explain what I will do over the next two weeks that is more important than addressing these issues?
“Furthermore, we are disappointed with your apparent attempt to restrict participation in this meeting to only us. To be clear, we request a meeting with you that will include other male and female basketball players, as well as NCPA The Director. executive Ramogi Huma so that we have someone in mind to defend the athlete with experience in these areas.
“We look forward to receiving confirmation that you will meet with the group we have described and demonstrate on behalf of your organization and members that these issues are in fact a priority by meeting with us on Friday this week.”
NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said the organization made no comment Tuesday.
The NCAA has promised to change its rules on rights of name, image and likeness, but the process has bogged down amid warnings from the Justice Department about possible antitrust violations of the association’s proposal.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear an NCAA case related to an antitrust ruling next week.
The NCAA has enlisted the help of federal lawmakers in the form of a NIL national law that would prevent dozens of state laws under consideration that would create different rules for competing schools.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.