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NCAA reluctantly voted to allow championship games in North Carolina

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The NCAA logo is at center court as work continues at The Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, March 18, 2015, for the NCAA college basketball second and third round games. Second round games start on Thursday. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

AP

The NCAA Board of Governors voted to allow championship games to be returned to the state of North Carolina, beginning next season.

Last fall, the NCAA relocated first and second round tournament matchups scheduled to be played in Greensboro to Greenville, South Carolina due to the state’s passing of House Bill 2 (HB2). The conversational bill -- also known as the “bathroom bill” -- eliminated protections for the LGBT community. It made it unlawful for transgendered people to use a bathroom that differed from the gender listed on their birth certificate inside government buildings.

The state repealed HB2 last week. The NCAA issued the following statement on Tuesday morning,

Last week, the elected officials of North Carolina enacted compromise legislation that repealed HB2 and replaced it with a new law, HB142, that addressed a number of the concerns that led to the relocation of the NCAA championships. As with most compromises, this new law is far from perfect.

The NCAA did not lobby for any specific change in the law. The Board of Governors, however, was hopeful that the state would fully repeal HB2 in order to allow the host communities to ensure a safe, healthy, discrimination-free atmosphere for the championship sites. While the new law meets the minimal NCAA requirements, the board remains concerned that some may perceive North Carolina’s moratorium against affording opportunities for communities to extend basic civil rights as a signal that discriminatory behavior is permitted and acceptable, which is inconsistent with the NCAA Bylaws.


The statement went on to read, “In the end, a majority on the NCAA Board of Governors reluctantly voted to allow consideration of championship bids in North Carolina by our committees that are presently meeting.”

The state of North Carolina was in jeopardy of missing out on postseason events from 2018-22. The estimated loss of revenue would have been $3.7 billion, according to the Associated Press.

The NCAA had awarded Charlotte first and second round tournament games in 2018. The ACC Tournament is scheduled to be played in Charlotte in 2019 and Greensboro in 2020.