Should there be a movement to boycott the NCAA Final Four? Related to the Indiana discrimination law

[FarPoint]

The Final Four will be held in Indianapolis Indiana. Home viewers can go into "blackout mode"....I enjoy the Final Four but will support a TV blackout if it is in vogue.

[jeff47]

1. No, there should be a movement to boycott the NCAA Final Four over how they treat the athletes.

NCAA and coaches make billions. Players make $0.

'Cause it's all about being amateurs and good sportsmanship. Honest. Not about the money at all.

[FarPoint]

3. Oh, I'm with you there..

I watched the John Oliver segment clip on the NCAA... Made me sick and sullen.

[Glassunion]

4. +1

[Man from Pickens]

11. Right on

And the cravenness with which they capitalize on the free labor of the ballplayers, who are subject to compensation rules that can only be fairly described as sadistic, is also beyond compare.

I watched two Elite Eight games this weekend. I have never seen so many commercials. There would be a string of 8 commercials, then like 45 seconds of play, then another long string of commercials. Then even the actual players on the bench were wearing matching shirts with corporate slogans and logos on them - players who were compensated with nothing at all, remember. Even the announcers were filling every available free second of time with pitches for one product or another.

At a certain density, that number of commercials has to be a form of brainwashing. How many times do I really need to be told about some Pizza Hut crust or the latest artificial soft drink? Or listen to the siren song of a sweet, beautiful voice who wants me to change my auto insurance to her employer's company?

The whole production practically made me vomit. If not for the stellar excellence of the Notre Dame-Kentucky matchup - again, by players who by rule get no compensation for their efforts - it would have been completely unwatchable.

I will never watch an NCAA game ever again. I am not subjecting my brain to the predations of an advertising industry that is possessed of neither conscience nor decency.

[FarPoint]

6. Too bad there is not enough time to organize a viewer blackout.

I'm going to boycott myself..no impact but I may feel I'm being supportive to the cause.

[bigwillq]

8. There's already been record-breaking viewership

I believe the ND-Kentucky game the other night was the most-watched program in TBS history.

[dissentient]

5. Count me in, I always boycott that college sports stuff anyhow

due to having nada interest in any of it.

[Rebubula]

7. Boycotts must be focused

We boycotted the 1980 Olympics and the only thing it accomplished was to crush the dreams of 1000s of young Americans that spent years training for the world stage.


Boycott things that do not directly affect the people we are trying to protect.

Move the Tourney elsewhere next year- but if they moved the tourney now - 100s of people that NEED to work these events would be out of expected money. Obviously only talking about low level support\food industry people - the rich remain that way regardless of protests.


There are plenty of things to boycott to show abject disgust with this 'law' - just avoid ones that are in place to, ostensibly, highlight the skills of young men that are trying to get somewhere better in life.

[FarPoint]

10. I imagined already that to move the venue would be unrealistic.

A TV blackout, seems like a reasonable option... Future planning is the goal...go elsewhere....

[Zorra]

9. I am asking people I know to not watch the Final Four.

I'm tough; I can take the abuse.

[FarPoint]

13. Me too....I can do it...and I like March Madness.

The cause , to send a passive yet powerful message of descent against the State of Indiana directed at their condoning discrimination...it is not to be accept.

[former9thward]

12. The only people who would boycott are people that do not like NCAA basketball.

In other words people that don't watch it anyway.

[MineralMan]

14. I can't boycott.

I don't follow college baseball, anyhow.