The NAACP recently announced a new campaign urging fans and Black student-athletes to boycott athletic programs in the South.
Announced on Tuesday, the campaign, titled the “Out of Bounds” campaign, urges families, alumni, fans and Black athletes to avoid public universities in the south. The civil rights organization advocates for the withholding of financial and athletic support until southern states adopt the Voting Rights Act, reject maps that remove Black-led districts and support community-led redistricting plans.
The NAACP also calls for the boycott until states use their power to ensure Black representation is not under threat, bring back the Black-led districts that were removed through newly made maps and repeal any proposed maps that diminish Black voting power.
The boycotts apply to eight target states, mainly Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Louisiana and Tennessee.
The announcement of the Out of Bounds campaign came shortly after the Congressional Black Caucus publicly opposed the SCORE Act. On Monday evening, they unanimously rejected the legislation, claiming they cannot support the Act benefiting athletic institutions when Black voting rights are under threat. The SCORE Act, which creates more regulations amongst student-athletes, was promptly pulled from the agenda on Monday for the second time in less than a year.
“No one Black should be on a playing field of institutions that’s living off of our labor,” the CEO and president of the NAACP, Derrick Johnson, said at a press conference. “We will fight with all we have … to ensure that we have representation. If we don’t, we will withhold the talent that has played on the football field or on the basketball court.”
The campaign’s main goal revolves around using the economic power of Black Americans to force legislative changes in the South.
Following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act, southern states, such as Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and South Carolina, have introduced plans to debate voting maps and change districting lines. By redistricting, the voting power of Black Americans is under threat as majority-Black districts are often targeted and eliminated from the maps.
Through boycotting these southern states, the NAACP is encouraging Black athletes and fans to provide economic pressure on them.
Currently, Black athletes make up a majority of collegiate sports teams. Per the USC Race and Equity Center, Black athletes comprised 55% of college football teams and 56% of college basketball teams. These athletes helped generate $1.03 billion in revenue across 16 Southeastern Conference teams from 2024 to 2025.
“The NAACP will not watch the same institutions that depend on Black athletic prowess to fill their stadiums and their bank accounts remain silent while their states strip Black communities of their voice,” said Johnson. “Out of Bounds is our answer: we are naming the contradiction, and we are calling on Black athletes, families, fans, and consumers to act on it. The same power that built these programs can be redirected. And it will be.”
