Groups, athletes ask NCAA to ban tournaments from Idaho

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament’s return to Boise in 2021 could be in jeopardy.

In three separate letters, more than 400 student-athletes, several professional and Olympic athletes and 60 advocacy groups have written to the NCAA asking the organization to remove NCAA-sponsored events, like the men’s basketball tournament, from the state of Idaho while House Bill 500 still is on the books. The bill, which was passed and signed by Gov. Brad Little in March, bans transgender girls or women from playing on school-sponsored sports on teams that match their gender identity.

“Idaho’s law blatantly targets an already-marginalized community in athletics and decreases their participation in sports,” said the letter from advocacy group, which among others was signed by the ACLU, the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Women’s Law Center. “Transgender students already participate at significantly lower rates and feel unsafe in athletic spaces. Further, while the harm of this law explicitly falls on transgender girls, the impact extends even further. Idaho’s new law is the first in the country to categorically ban transgender girls from sports statewide, but past research has found that when states adopt policies that create new barriers for transgender athletes to participate in sports, the number of participants in sports among all LGBTQ youth drops.”

The letters first were reported by Sports Illustrated.

Boise State is set to host first- and second-round games of the NCAA men’s tournament March 18-20 at ExtraMile Arena. It would be the 10th time the arena has hosted the tournament, the last being in 2018.

“Boise State has and will continue to follow NCAA guidance until the new state law goes into effect on July 1, after which all Idaho universities will follow the new law,” Boise State said in a statement. “The Attorney General will lead the defense of the law, in coordination with the Governor and legislative leadership.”

If the NCAA complies, it wouldn’t be the first time the organization has pulled tournaments out of a state because of local laws or policies. During 2016-17, the NCAA pulled seven championship events out of North Carolina — including first- and second-round NCAA men’s basketball tournament games in Greensboro in 2017 — because of a law which banned people from using public bathrooms which did not correspond with their birth gender. From 2001-15, the NCAA also banned sponsored events in South Carolina while the Confederate flag remained on the statehouse grounds.

The student-athlete letter includes signatures from a Boise State coach and athlete, as assistant women’s tennis coach Maria Lopez and track and field athlete Malia Pivec, who will be a junior in the fall, both signed their names.

“The NCAA has the potential to lead the way by implementing diverse, inclusive and accepting policies and practices,” the student-athlete letter read. “We have learned that the most successful teams are ones where everyone can be their authentic selves and believe that everyone deserves equal opportunity and access to sport. This is the time for the NCAA to stand on the right side of history and support the rights of all athletes in Idaho to compete in the sports they love.”

The professional athletes who signed the third letter include tennis legend Billie Jean King, American soccer star Megan Rapinoe, WNBA player Sue Bird and ESPN broadcaster Jessica Mendoza.

B.J. Rains of the Idaho Press contributed to this report.