The Atlantic Coast Conference announcing Wednesday it’s going to pull it’s neutral site championships out of the state of North Carolina because of that’s state’s controversial bathroom law!
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ACC said in a statement their action “reaffirmed our collective commitment to uphold the values of equality, diversity, inclusion and non-discrimination”.
Per USA Today’s Nicole Auerbach, the ACC will relocate all of its neutral-site championships from North Carolina during the 2016-17 academic year. Unless the conference is willing to move their game to Friday night (not likely if either FSU, Clemson or Louisville is in it and ranked in the top three), it looks like there will not be a reunion between the game and its first location. Now, it will be relocated to another state, as will nine other men’s and women’s championships for the 2016-2017 school year that were to be played in North Carolina, including women’s soccer, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, golf, women’s basketball, and baseball.
The 2014 Men’s ACC Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 16, 2014, in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The North Carolina Governor’s Office did not immediately comment on the ACC decision, but Republican leaders in the state blasted the previous decisions.
Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the N.C. Values Coalition, called the ACC and NCAA announcements “an attempt to force the State of North Carolina to sacrifice our children’s safety on the altar of political correctness”. According to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, Orlando has emerged as an early front-runner to replace Charlotte as the site of the 2016 ACC Football Championship.
On Wednesday, Gov. Pat McCrory – who signed HB2 into law on March 23 – said the battle over the law should be resolved in the courts, not through economic protests. “The NBA has moved the All-Star Game and any number of private sector companies have made announcements curtailing their footprint inside the state of North Carolina”.
But the team’s position maintains unchanged, regarding the bill that stripped away protections from the LGBT community and most visibly required transgender persons to use the bathrooms of their birth rather than as they identify.
McCrory gave a midday speech in his hometown of Charlotte on Thursday, the day after the Atlantic Coast Conference removed several championship events from North Carolina, including the football title game in Charlotte.
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“The University studied this issue and supports the decision of the ACC”. Camping World Stadium, where the football championship would be played, is already set to host the Florida High School Athletic Association football championships on the weekend of December 3. However as a lifelong North Carolina resident it makes me mad that the NCAA and ACC are trying to influence our state politics to get a more liberal government in place here.
