Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act has ignited a firestorm of controversy for its vague language that critics say will allow businesses to deny service to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. The Nation’s sports editor Dave Zirin joined MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts yesterday to discuss why he and other pundits think the NCAA should move the Final Four out of Indianapolis to protest the egregious nature of the law.

While giving credit to the NCAA for setting a precedent for other sports organizations by coming out against the new law in a statement issued by their President Mark Emmert, Zirin said that moving the Final Four to nearby University of Cincinnati would be “one hell of a political statement.”

If the NCAA is serious about “actual concerns for student athletes, actual concerns for the safety of NCAA employees, one would think [Emmert] would see this as a moment of actual urgency,” said Zirin.

Today, Indiana Governor Mike Pence called for changes to the law but still defended the motives of state legislators, saying, “I don’t believe for a minute that it was the intention of the General Assembly to create a license to discriminate.”

—James F. Kelly