Atlantic Coast Conference yanks 10 championships from North Carolina
Decision follows similar actions taken by the NBA and the NCAA to protest anti-transgender HB 2 law
Right on the heels of the NCAA’s announcement that it was pulling seven sports championship games from North Carolina — including the first and second rounds of the all-hallowed Men’s Division I Basketball championships — the Atlantic Coast Conference has followed suit. The conference has yanked this year’s football title game from Charlotte, citing the state’s HB 2 law.
The title game, which has been held in Charlotte since 2010, was scheduled for Dec. 3 at Bank of American Stadium. 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 ACC Council of Presidents released a statement reaffirming the conference’s “collective commitment to uphold the values of equality, diversity, inclusion and non-discrimination.”
“Every one of our 15 universities is strongly committed to these values and therefore, we will continue to host ACC Championships at campus sites,” the Council said. “We believe North Carolina House Bill 2 is inconsistent with these values, and as a result, we will relocate all neutral site championships for the 2016-17 academic year. All locations will be announced in the future from the conference office.”
ACC Commissioner John Swofford, who has previously called for the repeal of HB 2, issued his own statement.
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