The National Collegiate Athletics Association is worried about holding the Final Four – one of the nation's biggest college sporting events – in Indianapolis, after Indiana's governor signed a 'religious freedom' bill into law that gay rights activists say is a license to discriminate. Mark Emmert, the president of the NCAA, said Thursday that the governing body for college sports is 'especially concerned about how this legislation could affect our student-athletes and employees.' The Final Four, an annual culmination of the national men's college basketball tournament, is slated to be held next week at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, a city where the NCAA itself is based. The new statute, the first of its kind passed this year, invalidates state and local laws that 'substantially burden' the ability of people – including businesses and associations – to follow their religious beliefs . Gov. Mike Pence, a Republican, supported the bill as it moved through the state legislature and was passed by wide margins in both chambers. He signed it in a private ceremony Thursday morning. Pence is considering whether to enter the 2016 presidential race, but is considered an outsider with long odds at success. STUMBLE? Future FInal Four appearances in Indianapolis could be in jeopardy because of a new religious-freedom law that Indiana gay rights activists saw is a license to discriminate . CALM DOWN! Indiana Gov. Mike Pence addressed the new statute in a news conference at the Statehouse in Indianapolis on Thursday . NO MEANS NO? Indiana's staet government won't be able to force bakeries run by evangelical Christians to provide wedding cakes for same-sex couples under the new law . There's no indication the NCAA has any plans to relocate the Final Four this year – ticketing and promotions have been underway for more than six months – but the event is scheduled to return to Indianapolis in 2021 and the NCAA is hinting that it might bolt the Hoosier State. '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,' Emmert said. 'Moving forward, we intend to closely examine the implications of this bill and how it might affect future events as well as our workforce.' An online push for the NCAA to react to the bill began earlier this week, carrying the hashtag #Final4Fairness. Former professional basketball player Jason Collins, the first openly gay athlete to play in the NBA, tweeted: '@GovPenceIN, is it going to be legal for someone to discriminate against me & others when we come to the #FinalFour?' A pressure group called the LGBT Sports Coalition asked Thursday for the NCAA, the Big Ten, the NFL, USA Diving and USA Gymnastics to pull their events from Indianapolis over the next 16 months. The Big Ten holds its football championship game in at Lucas Oil Field and has a contract to remain there until 2021. The conference also is scheduled to hold its men's basketball tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis in 2020 and 2022. The Big Ten women's basketball tournament is set to be held in Indianapolis for six years beginning in 2017. The NFL also holds its draft combine at Lucas Oil Stadium every year. Indiana's largest city is also hoping to land the 2019 Super Bowl. Pence said in a statement Thursday that the new law, patterned after a federal law signed in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, ensures 'religious liberty is fully protected.' 'The Constitution of the United States and the Indiana Constitution both provide strong recognition of the freedom of religion, but today, many people of faith feel their religious liberty is under attack by government action,' he said. Reaction to the decision was swift and divided. Indiana Right to Life President and CEO Mike Fichter praised the new law, saying it would give abortion opponents legal recourse if they are pressured to support the procedure. The organization circulated an online petition to thank Pence for signing the bill. FINAL FORGET-IT: Look for gay-rights protests next week when the Final Four comes to Indiana's largest sports arena, Lucas Oil Stadium . MIXED REACTIONS: A window sign on a downtown Indianapolis florist shows its owner's objection to the Religious Freedom bill passed by the Indiana legislature . Freedom Indiana, the gay rights group that led a successful 2014 fight against efforts to add a gay marriage ban to the state constitution, called it 'a sad day for Indiana,' saying Pence and lawmakers ignored concerns of thousands of Indiana residents. 'We made it clear that this law will only be used to harm other Hoosiers, and that's not the Indiana way. The lawmakers didn't listen. The governor didn't listen,' the group said in a statement. ON DECK: Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he'll sing a similar law if his state's legislature passes it . At least two groups – the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Gen Con – have said they would reconsider plans to hold their conventions in Indianapolis because of the legislation. Gen Con is a videogaming convention that drew 56,000 people – most of them young – last year, making it the city's largest convention in both economic impact and attendance numbers. The CEO of the California technology company Salesforce told the Indianapolis Business Journal his company would reduce its investment in the state, specifically because of the new law. Supporters say discrimination concerns are overblown and that the Indiana measure merely seeks to prevent the government from compelling people to provide services like catering or photography for same-sex weddings or other activities they find objectionable on religious grounds. They note that similar laws are already on the books in 19 states. Last year, Mississippi enacted its own religious freedom law just weeks after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, vetoed a similar effort there amid criticism from large corporations concerned about its impact on doing buiness in the state. 'This bill is not about discrimination, and if I thought it legalized discrimination in any way in Indiana, I would have vetoed it,' Pence said Thursday. 'For more than 20 years, the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act has never undermined our nation's anti-discrimination laws, and it will not in Indiana.' Chad Griffin, national president of the Human Rights Campaign, held his own press conference with one anchored by Hutchinson, the Arkansas governor . COUNFOUNDING EXPECTATIONS: Republican Jan Brewer, then Arizona's governor, vetoed a similar bill in 2014 before leaving office . The nation's political climate is vastly different from what President Clinton saw in 1993, however: The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this year on whether gay marriage bans violate the U.S. Constitution. The Indianapolis chamber of commerce opposed the bill on the grounds that it could make it more difficult to attract top companies and employees. Similar bills have been advancing this year in the Arkansas and Georgia legislatures. Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Thursday that if his state's lawmakers send the bill to his desk, he'll sign it into law. 'I think it's a bill that puts a high priority on religious freedom and recognizes that as a part of the balance,' Hutchinson told reporters at a news conference after Pence signed his state's bill. Elsewhere at the state Capitol in Little Rock, Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin told journalists that the legislative push 'is a concerted effort by a hateful political faction to say that Arkansas does not welcome all its citizens, sending a clear message that this state is not open for business – and all this is happening on Gov. Hutchinson's watch. Griffin's organization is America's wealthiest and most powerful gay rights group. The latest changes to the Arkansas bill, tweaked on Wednesday night, give liberal lobbyists some ground by agreeing that complying with federal law counts as a 'compelling government intetest.' But Griffin said Thursday that his group wasn't satisfied. 'You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig,' he said. Indiana GOvernor Mike Pence . Pence delivered a brief statement during a news conference on Thursday, after signing the controversial bill into law: . 'Today I signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, because I support the freedom of religion for every Hoosier of every faith. 'The Constitution of the United States and the Indiana Constitution both provide strong recognition of the freedom of religion but today, many people of faith feel their religious liberty is under attack by government action. 'One need look no further than the recent litigation concerning the Affordable Care Act. A private business and our own University of Notre Dame had to file lawsuits challenging provisions that required them to offer insurance coverage in violation of their religious views. 'Fortunately, in the 1990s Congress passed, and President Clinton signed, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act—limiting government action that would infringe upon religion to only those that did not substantially burden free exercise of religion absent a compelling state interest and in the least restrictive means. 'Last year the Supreme Court of the United States upheld religious liberty in the Hobby Lobby case based on the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but that act does not apply to individual states or local government action. At present, nineteen states—including our neighbors in Illinois and Kentucky—have adopted Religious Freedom Restoration statutes. And in eleven additional states, the courts have interpreted their constitutions to provide a heightened standard for reviewing government action. 'In order to ensure that religious liberty is fully protected under Indiana law, this year our General Assembly joined those 30 states and the federal government to enshrine these principles in Indiana law, and I fully support that action. 'This bill is not about discrimination, and if I thought it legalized discrimination in any way in Indiana, I would have vetoed it. In fact, it does not even apply to disputes between private parties unless government action is involved. For more than twenty years, the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act has never undermined our nation's anti-discrimination laws, and it will not in Indiana. 'Indiana is rightly celebrated for the hospitality, generosity, tolerance, and values of our people, and that will never change. Faith and religion are important values to millions of Hoosiers and with the passage of this legislation, we ensure that Indiana will continue to be a place where we respect freedom of religion and make certain that government action will always be subject to the highest level of scrutiny that respects the religious beliefs of every Hoosier of every faith.'
Look for gay rights protests at Lucas Oil Stadium as the men's college basketball tournament comes to Indianapolis, where the NCAA is based . Law signed Thursday trumps state and local statutes that force business owners to serve the public in ways that violate their religious beliefs . Gay rights groups see the measure – the 20th of its kind in America – as a back-door license to discriminate . Republican Gov. Mike Pence signed it while insisting that it brings Indiana in line with a 1993 federal religious-protection law signed by Bill Clinton . Pence is a long-shot but still in the hunt as a potential 2016 Republican presidential nominee .