Should Black Athletes Boycott SEC Schools?

Richard is joined by Joel Anderson, host of The Ringer Tailgate and The Press Box podcasts, for a conversation about the NAACP’s Out of Bounds campaign and the bigger question underneath it: What is fair to ask of Black college athletes and recruits at a moment when lawmakers and the courts are attacking Black voting power? They start with HBCUs and PWIs, move through the campaign’s specifics asks, and cover lots of topics from there: political education, NIL incentives, the transfer portal, the limits and power of boycotts, and why college football keeps becoming the platform for this kind of discussion.

In this episode:

* 0:00: The roles of HBCUs and PWIs in Black college life, and how generational experiences shape Richard’s and Joel’s views.

* 12:01: The NAACP’s campaign and its asks of recruits, current athletes, fans, donors, and consumers.

* 16:16: What is fair to expect of college athlete activism now

* 26:55: Whether the idea of a “boycott” has lost force

* 37:53: The role of the NAACP in 2026

Producer: Anthony Vito

More on the story covered in this episode:

* NAACP press statement: Black athletes and fans should withhold support from public schools in states attacking Black voting rights

* NAACP: Out of Bounds

* CBS Sports on the NAACP campaign

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