The NCAA has announced it is relocating a number of athletic events – including NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament games – out of North Carolina in response of the state’s HB2 “bathroom law”. “Perhaps the NCAA should stop with their political peacocking- and instead focus their energies on making sure our nation’s collegiate athletes are safe, both on and off the field”.
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The move by the NCAA comes less than two months after the National Basketball Association said it would move February’s All-Star Game from Charlotte as a protest against a North Carolina law that canceled anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
The NCAA also noted that five states and several cities have banned travel to North Carolina by public employees and representatives of public institutions, which it said may affect student-athletes and campus sports staffers.
In announcing its decision Monday, the NCAA stated current North Carolina laws “make it challenging to guarantee that host communities can help deliver” on that requirement.
Among the events being taken away: the first two rounds of the “March Madness” men’s basketball playoffs, which were scheduled to be played in Greensboro.
Reaction out of North Carolina was swift, widespread and ran the gamut Monday from a conciliatory Duke official to an inflammatory state Republican Party spokeswoman in the wake of the NCAA’s removal of seven championship events from the state. The president of the University of North Carolina condemned the move.
“This is so absurd it’s nearly comical”, North Carolina Republican Party spokeswoman Kami Mueller said in a statement.
NCGOP spokesperson Kami Mueller added to Woodhouse’s statement, saying “I wish the NCAA was this concerned about the women who were raped at Baylor”. The law was passed and signed by Gov.
NCAA President Mark Emmert said in statement Monday night that the governing body will delay announcements on future championship sites until early next year.
Besides the NBA’s All-Star Weekend, other events have been canceled or removed from the state, including a Bruce Springsteen concert canceled and a planned basketball game between the University of Albany and Duke University for the coming college basketball season.
“Under the NCAA’s logic, colleges should end all women’s sports and merge them with the men’s teams, should make cheerleaders and football players share bathrooms, showers and hotel rooms”, Woodhouse continued.
“It’ll cost some money and, of course, North Carolina is a great venue and always has a lot of fans”, Emmert told The Associated Press in an interview.
Cyd Zeigler, LGBT activist and co-founder of Outsports, said the move is a big step in the right direction but still felt there was more work to be done on the NCAA’s behalf.
“I am extremely disappointed with this news”, he said.
“We are now viewed as a discriminatory state by the many businesses who have decided not to consider us in their future plans”, he said.
2016 Division I Women’s Soccer Championship, College Cup (Cary), Dec. 2 and 4.
The regional at Ironwood Golf and Country Club in Greenville, N.C., will be moved.
2017 Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship (Cary), May 26 and 28.
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2017 Division III Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships (Cary), May 22-27.
