A.C.C. Is Open to Holding Title Games in North Carolina
By MARC TRACYMARCH 31, 2017
PHOENIX — One day after North Carolina repealed a law that had caused the N.C.A.A., the N.B.A. and the Atlantic Coast Conference to remove events from the state, the A.C.C. announced it was again open to placing neutral-site championships there.
In a one-sentence statement on Friday, the conference, which has four members in the state (Duke, North Carolina State, North Carolina and Wake Forest), said its members’ presidents had voted “that North Carolina will again be considered.” The A.C.C.’s headquarters are in Greensboro.
The A.C.C.’s move could foreshadow how the N.C.A.A. will deal with the political developments in North Carolina over the past week.
Late Wednesday, Republican legislative leaders, who supported the law, reached a compromise with Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat who was elected on a platform that included completely repealing the law, known as House Bill 2.
While the old law had curbed anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and required transgender people to use bathrooms in public facilities aligned with their sex at birth, the new law, passed and signed on Thursday, repealed that law but barred any local governments from regulating these issues until 2020 and left the question of public bathroom usage to the state Legislature.
The N.C.A.A.’s Board of Governors, citing the association’s values, voted last year to remove events from North Carolina out of concerns for the safety of athletes and spectators. Mark Emmert, the N.C.A.A.’s president, said at a news conference Thursday in Glendale, Ariz., that the Board of Governors would consider allowing championship events through 2022 to take place in North Carolina in light of the new law. A decision is expected next week. The political negotiations in the state were heavily influenced by the N.C.A.A., which had effectively set this week as a deadline.
While the A.C.C. men’s basketball tournament is already scheduled to be held next year at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., as it was this year, it is most often played in Greensboro. The A.C.C.’s football title game is typically held in Charlotte, but last year it was shifted to Orlando, Fla., in response to the law.
“Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”
