“Current North Carolina state laws make it challenging to guarantee that host communities can help deliver on that commitment if NCAA events remained in the state”, the board wrote in a statement.
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Responding on Tuesday to the NCAA’s move, McCrory called for a halt to “economic threats or political retaliation” while almost two dozen states challenge an Obama administration policy that calls for public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice.
“Sadly, the NCAA, a multibillion-dollar, tax-exempt monopoly, failed to show this respect at the expense of our student athletes and hard-working men and women”, he added.
NCAA’s president Mark Emmert called the decision to pull championship games from North Carolina a “proverbial no-brainer”, during an interview with CBS News.
Two months ago the National Basketball Association moved its 2017 pro All-Star Game from North Carolina to New Orleans for the same reason.
Sen. Ralph Hise (R) of Mitchell County said in a phone interview that he sees nothing in the NCAA decision about how its actions protect women and childen in their showers, locker rooms and bathroom facilities.
Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski applauded the NCAA’s decision to move its championships out of North Carolina to protest an anti-LGBT law in the state. “I wish it would be repealed, and I think that the NCAA looking at this, decided that this was just something they couldn’t swallow”.
Gov. Pat McCrory signed the sweeping anti-LGBT bill, known as HB2, into law in March. “This decision is an assault to female athletes across the nation”.
That means even if North Carolina prevails in its dueling lawsuits with the Justice Department, and even if judges rule that the Obama administration went too far with its transgender guidelines for schools, there’s still a lot about HB2 that’s a problem.
“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”. North Carolina Republican Party spokesperson Kami Mueller issued a statement in response to moving the tournament games out of North Carolina, contrasting it with the NCAA’s response to the 2015 sexual assault scandal at Baylor University. These decisions, typically announced in early December, will be delayed until next year, Emmert said.
“Indianapolis is proud to have been home to many NCAA Championships in the past and look forward to continuing the tradition of hosting more in the coming years”, said a statement released Tuesday by Indiana Sports Corp.
Of the seven events listed, the most noteworthy is the move of NCAA Tournament games out of Greensboro this upcoming March.
The ACC Football Championship has been held in Charlotte since 2010.
North Carolina law provides legal protections for government officials to refuse services to the LGBT community.
While Democratic legislators called today for a special session to repeal the law, leading GOP lawmakers and McCrory were not commenting.
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The conference has a regularly scheduled meeting this week in SC, and ACC Commissioner John Swofford said the bathroom law is on the agenda.
