The state of North Carolina has served as the ACC’s headquarters for years.
The ACC has routinely and regularly held its men’s basketball tournament in North Carolina (although it is currently underway with a three-year span out of the state before returning in 2019. The football championship game has found a home in Charlotte. Later this month, the ACC will hold its baseball championship tournament in Durham. The ACC and the state of North Carolina are almost inseparable, which puts the conference under a microscope as scrutiny rises with how organizations handle and respond to the controversial LGBT bathroom laws in North Carolina.
By now you probably know the basic story going on in North Carolina. The state passed a law that prohibits transgender people from using the bathroom for the gender they identify as, and forces them to use the bathroom of the gender on their birth certificate. The uproar over the law has become a very vocal one over the past couple of months and the NBA has been put in the spotlight for the sports world because it plans to hold its All-Star Game in Charlotte in 2017. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has said the NBA would move the All-Star Game if the state does not change the law.
The NBA may be the one that grabs the brightest spotlight, but the ACC is every bit as invested in the state of North Carolina, if not more so, than anyone else perhaps.
On Thursday, with a gathering of ACC minds for annual spring meetings, ACC commissioner John Swofford issued his own statement and stance on the North Carolina law. For now, the ACC is keeping a close eye on the developments and there are no plans to move current;y scheduled championship events. That could change, however, if the conference feels it necessary to take a harder stand.
“The Atlantic Coast Conference and its member institutions remain committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. Discrimination in any form has no place in higher education and college athletics, and the safe and respectful treatment of student-athletes, coaches and fans regardless of gender, will remain a priority. During the 2016 ACC Spring Meetings, the leagues faculty athletics representatives, athletic directors, senior women administrators and student-athlete representatives discussed North Carolina’s HB2 and its effects.
“The membership strongly supports the league continuing to engage at the highest levels regarding the effects of this law on its constituents as it evaluates current and future events and championships within the state of North Carolina. The league will also require commitments to provide safe and inclusive environments from sites for which there are current commitments for ACC Championships.”
If nothing changes in North Carolina, the ACC will be pressured by some to move its football championship game in the fall. Of course, doing so presents a whole bag of logistic nightmares and issues that may making moving the game a problem. It would be possible of course. Football games have been moved on short notice under more time-sensitive demands, but the ACC can avoid having a problem if it works with Charlotte to ensure all attending the game are treated fairly without discrimination based on gender.
