National Urban League Seeks to "Rebuild Trust" with NCAA Following "Slavery Exception" Argument

NEW YORK (June 18, 2026) — National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial has requested a meeting with the NCAA’s Board of Governors to “rebuild trust and accountability” in the wake of the organization’s comparison of college athletes to prison labor under the Thirteenth Amendment’s “slavery exception.”

“The NCAA’s decision to invoke a legal precedent rooted in the constitutional exception for slavery and involuntary servitude, to argue against college athletes receiving basic workplace protections, is deeply troubling,” Morial wrote in a letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker.

The organization has made the comparison in response to an ongoing lawsuit filed by current and former Division I athletes arguing they are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act and entitled to federal minimum wage.

“The NCAA’s use of the ‘slavery exception’ argument is particularly disturbing given the racial composition of the college athletes who create the overwhelming majority of the billions of dollars the NCAA generates annually,” Morial wrote. “At a minimum, it reflects a profound lack of judgement. At worst it reveals an institutional willingness to invoke one of the most morally troubling doctrines in American constitutional law to preserve a system that has historically denied college athletes a meaningful share of the value they create.”

Morial said he welcomes the opportunity to discuss how the NCAA can more effectively serve the interests of the college athletes who generate billions of dollars for the Association and make college sports possible.