NCAA releases statement on Religious Freedom law

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The NCAA is assessing how the Religious Freedom law will affect events and its employees.

The collegiate sports organization is headquartered in Indianapolis. Gov. Mike Pence on Thursday signed the bill into law.

Indianapolis has hosted many NCAA events, including the upcoming Men’s Final Four at the beginning of April. NCAA officials said they wanted to be sure athletes and visitors weren’t negatively affected by the bill.

Here’s the full statement from Mark Emmert, NCAA president:

“The NCAA national office and our members are deeply committed to providing an inclusive environment for all our events. We are especially concerned about how this legislation could affect our student-athletes and employees. We will work diligently to assure student-athletes competing in, and visitors attending, next week’s Men’s Final Four in Indianapolis are not impacted negatively by this bill. Moving forward, we intend to closely examine the implications of this bill and how it might affect future events as well as our workforce.”