Two days after the NCAA announced that it will move all seven of its scheduled championships out of North Carolina for the 2016-17 academic year, the ACC followed with its own move on Wednesday.
The ACC Council of Presidents announced in a statement that, in response to North Carolina’s controversial House Bill 2, it will relocate all eight of its neutral-site championships that were set to take place in the state for this academic year:
“As members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the ACC Council of Presidents reaffirmed our 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. 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.”
Neutral-site championships moving out of NC for 2016-17
Women’s Soccer
Football
Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving
Women’s Basketball
Men’s and Women’s Tennis
Women’s Golf
Men’s Golf
Baseball
ACC commissioner John Swofford, who personally called for the repeal of the law on Monday evening, released another statement on Wednesday.
“The ACC Council of Presidents made it clear that the core values of this league are of the utmost importance, and the opposition to any form of discrimination is paramount,” Swofford said. “Today’s decision is one of principle, and while this decision is the right one, we recognize there will be individuals and communities that are supportive of our values as well as our championship sites that will be negatively affected.
“Hopefully, there will be opportunities beyond 2016-17 for North Carolina neutral sites to be awarded championships.”