The Atlantic Coast Conference announced Wednesday that it would move neutral site championships for this academic year, including the football title game and the women’s basketball tournament, out of North Carolina in reaction to a state law that curbed anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
The decision came two days after the N.C.A.A. announced that it would move championship games for the coming year, including six in the Division I men’s basketball tournament, touching off contentious debate between opponents of the law, who praised the N.C.A.A. for taking a principled stand, and supporters of the law, who said the association was inappropriately inserting itself into politics.
“The A.C.C. Council of Presidents made it clear that the core values of this league are of the utmost importance, and the opposition to any form of discrimination is paramount,” Commissioner John Swofford said in a statement. “Today’s decision is one of principle.”
The law, commonly referred to as House Bill 2 or H.B. 2, nullified local government ordinances establishing anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and required people in publicly owned buildings to use restrooms that correspond with the genders listed on their birth certificates.
James P. Clements, the president of Clemson, said: “The decision to move the neutral site championships out of North Carolina while H.B. 2 remains the law was not an easy one, but it is consistent with the shared values of inclusion and nondiscrimination at all of our institutions.”
The A.C.C., which is based in Greensboro, N.C., includes four member institutions in North Carolina, two of them state universities: the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State. In recent days, those universities’ athletic directors as well as the ones at Duke and Wake Forest issued statements expressing concern about the law or its effects.
In a joint statement, the chancellors of U.N.C. and North Carolina State, Carol L. Folt and Randy Woodson, said, “We appreciate the Council of Presidents’ reaffirmation of the A.C.C.’s strong commitment to diversity and inclusion,” adding, “However, we regret today’s decision will negatively affect many North Carolinians, especially in the affected host communities.”
The speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Tim Moore, said the week’s decisions by the N.C.A.A. and the A.C.C. were “very unfortunate.”
“No one ever wants to lose events under any circumstances, but these organizations are certainly entitled to host their events wherever they choose,” said Mr. Moore, a Republican who supports H.B. 2. “The truth remains that this law was never about and does not promote discrimination.”
The conference, which said it would announce future sites, has just a few weeks to relocate its first affected championship, for women’s soccer, which had been scheduled to take place in Cary beginning Oct. 30, and fewer than three months to find a new venue for its marquee event, the football championship game, scheduled for Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on Dec. 3.
Six other championships featuring sports like men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s golf and baseball are scheduled to be held at in-state venues. The men’s basketball tournament, frequently held in the state, was already to be staged in March at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Some championships hosted by specific universities will not be affected, like the men’s and women’s cross-country championships at North Carolina State.
Beyond those championships and regular-season A.C.C. games, the other major college sports event set to take place in the state is the Belk Bowl, which will pit an A.C.C. team against one from the Southeastern Conference on Dec. 29 in Charlotte.
The Charlotte Sports Foundation, which hosts the Belk Bowl and the A.C.C. football championship, said in a statement Wednesday that it was “disappointed” that the football title game was moving, adding: “We recognize the economic impact moving the game and its events have on the Charlotte area. We will continue to work to bring high impact sporting events to Charlotte in the future.”
Frank Kay, a spokesman for the host organization, said there were no talks about relocating the Belk Bowl.
Mr. Swofford had presaged the A.C.C.’s decision in a statement late Monday night, saying the N.C.A.A.’s decision “continues to build upon the negative impact” the law “has already had on the state,” and adding that he personally felt the law should “be repealed as it’s counter to basic human rights.”
Officials in North Carolina cities with close ties to the A.C.C., including Greensboro, have been worried about the long-term fallout from the N.C.A.A.’s decision Monday.
“We are in the process right now of bidding games and tournaments for the next four years, so we are really looking at the possibility of a five-year drought,” Mayor Nancy Vaughan of Greensboro, whose father was a longtime A.C.C. official, said in an interview Tuesday.
“It’s really hard to get back into the cycle when you’re out of it,” she added. “And it’s hard to maintain these facilities that you don’t have these marquee events being played in.”
Scott Dupree, the executive director of the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance, said that for sports events in North Carolina, this week had been “unprecedented and historically bad, probably the worst ever in terms of lost business and damage to our brand.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/s...column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
The decision came two days after the N.C.A.A. announced that it would move championship games for the coming year, including six in the Division I men’s basketball tournament, touching off contentious debate between opponents of the law, who praised the N.C.A.A. for taking a principled stand, and supporters of the law, who said the association was inappropriately inserting itself into politics.
“The A.C.C. Council of Presidents made it clear that the core values of this league are of the utmost importance, and the opposition to any form of discrimination is paramount,” Commissioner John Swofford said in a statement. “Today’s decision is one of principle.”
The law, commonly referred to as House Bill 2 or H.B. 2, nullified local government ordinances establishing anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and required people in publicly owned buildings to use restrooms that correspond with the genders listed on their birth certificates.
James P. Clements, the president of Clemson, said: “The decision to move the neutral site championships out of North Carolina while H.B. 2 remains the law was not an easy one, but it is consistent with the shared values of inclusion and nondiscrimination at all of our institutions.”
The A.C.C., which is based in Greensboro, N.C., includes four member institutions in North Carolina, two of them state universities: the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State. In recent days, those universities’ athletic directors as well as the ones at Duke and Wake Forest issued statements expressing concern about the law or its effects.
In a joint statement, the chancellors of U.N.C. and North Carolina State, Carol L. Folt and Randy Woodson, said, “We appreciate the Council of Presidents’ reaffirmation of the A.C.C.’s strong commitment to diversity and inclusion,” adding, “However, we regret today’s decision will negatively affect many North Carolinians, especially in the affected host communities.”
The speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Tim Moore, said the week’s decisions by the N.C.A.A. and the A.C.C. were “very unfortunate.”
“No one ever wants to lose events under any circumstances, but these organizations are certainly entitled to host their events wherever they choose,” said Mr. Moore, a Republican who supports H.B. 2. “The truth remains that this law was never about and does not promote discrimination.”
The conference, which said it would announce future sites, has just a few weeks to relocate its first affected championship, for women’s soccer, which had been scheduled to take place in Cary beginning Oct. 30, and fewer than three months to find a new venue for its marquee event, the football championship game, scheduled for Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on Dec. 3.
Six other championships featuring sports like men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s golf and baseball are scheduled to be held at in-state venues. The men’s basketball tournament, frequently held in the state, was already to be staged in March at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Some championships hosted by specific universities will not be affected, like the men’s and women’s cross-country championships at North Carolina State.
Beyond those championships and regular-season A.C.C. games, the other major college sports event set to take place in the state is the Belk Bowl, which will pit an A.C.C. team against one from the Southeastern Conference on Dec. 29 in Charlotte.
The Charlotte Sports Foundation, which hosts the Belk Bowl and the A.C.C. football championship, said in a statement Wednesday that it was “disappointed” that the football title game was moving, adding: “We recognize the economic impact moving the game and its events have on the Charlotte area. We will continue to work to bring high impact sporting events to Charlotte in the future.”
Frank Kay, a spokesman for the host organization, said there were no talks about relocating the Belk Bowl.
Mr. Swofford had presaged the A.C.C.’s decision in a statement late Monday night, saying the N.C.A.A.’s decision “continues to build upon the negative impact” the law “has already had on the state,” and adding that he personally felt the law should “be repealed as it’s counter to basic human rights.”
Officials in North Carolina cities with close ties to the A.C.C., including Greensboro, have been worried about the long-term fallout from the N.C.A.A.’s decision Monday.
“We are in the process right now of bidding games and tournaments for the next four years, so we are really looking at the possibility of a five-year drought,” Mayor Nancy Vaughan of Greensboro, whose father was a longtime A.C.C. official, said in an interview Tuesday.
“It’s really hard to get back into the cycle when you’re out of it,” she added. “And it’s hard to maintain these facilities that you don’t have these marquee events being played in.”
Scott Dupree, the executive director of the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance, said that for sports events in North Carolina, this week had been “unprecedented and historically bad, probably the worst ever in terms of lost business and damage to our brand.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/s...column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news