NCAA presses Mississippi to remove Confederate symbolism from its flag

The NCAA's new championship policy applies to every state, but actually just Mississippi.

With the United States collectively deciding it's had enough of celebrating long-dead racists, the top authority in college sports is throwing its hat in the ring. The NCAA announced on Friday that any state where the Confederate flag has a "prominent presence" is barred from hosting collegiate championship games.

There are two important bits of context here. The first is that the NCAA's previous policy already barred predetermined championship events from being held in states that still fly the stars and bars. Many, but not all, sports championships are scheduled at neutral venues years in advance rather than hosted by a competing school.

The second is that both the old and new policies literally apply to one state: Mississippi.

The Magnolia State's official flag still features the old Confederate battle flag design, making it the only state to do so. The NCAA's new policy came a day after the Southeastern Conference called for the Mississippi state flag to be changed. If you don't follow college sports, the SEC is arguably the most powerful coalition of schools in college football and features the two biggest schools in the state, the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University.

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In addition to that, the public university system in Mississippi put out a statement agreeing that the flag needs to change. Ironically, the former coach who famously called for people to stop waving the Confederate flag at Ole Miss football games is now a heavily Trump-aligned GOP candidate in Alabama.

While it's certainly notable for both the NCAA and SEC to withhold championship events from Mississippi, most major college championships are held at predetermined neutral sites anyway. The SEC doesn't hold its football, men's or women's basketball, or baseball conference championships in Mississippi. Regarding events organized by the NCAA, baseball, softball, and women's basketball could potentially be affected by the new policy.

Whether or not the policy actually gets in the way of any future NCAA events, it's clear which way the wind is blowing on this issue. Confederate symbolism isn't compatible with any reasonable vision of an equal society, especially in a state whose population is nearly 40 percent Black. Mississippi has avoided changing its flag until now, but pressure from the college sports world could change that.