The ACC meetings are taking place in Amelia Island from Monday through Thursday this week, and among the topics that will be discussed is how a North Carolina law could impact the state’s chances of hosting future conference championships.
In March, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a bill that is viewed by many as discriminatory toward the LGBT community. The law, in part, requires people to use the bathroom of the gender specified on their birth certificate.
Over the last two months, performers have cancelled concerts scheduled to take place in North Carolina, while a few companies have held off on plans to bring jobs to the state. The law has also affected the sports world, as NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced in April that next year’s All-Star game will be moved out of Charlotte if the law is not changed.
The NCAA hasn’t ruled out the possibility of keeping its own pre-determined events from being hosted in North Carolina cities, but late last month it announced that cities bidding for such events will need to “demonstrate how they will provide an environment that is safe, healthy, and free of discrimination, plus safeguards the dignity of everyone involved in the event.”
Like the NCAA, the ACC has so far taken a softer stance.
In an interview with the ACC Digital Network on Monday, ACC commissioner John Swofford was asked whether or not the North Carolina law, known as House Bill 2, will impact plans for where the conferences decides to host future championships.
Swofford’s full answer:
“I don’t know the answer to that yet, necessarily. Our executive committee had a call last Friday to discuss the issue. We’ll discuss it further here. Where we are as a league right now going into these meetings is, in essence, where the NCAA is, and that is that we will require, from any site that we are scheduled to already go to or any site that we are considering going to in the future, a statement and a full commitment of adherence to fairness, to inclusiveness, to non-discrimanatory practices at that venue and in that city. If that is met, then that will suffice. But it’s an important issue. Our league has been all about inclusiveness and not having discriminatory policies from Day 1, and continues to be. Our people seem to be by and large comfortable at this point in time with where the NCAA is in addressing that going forward, and our policy at this point is very similar.”
The David Glenn Show discussed Swofford’s comments on Monday and broke down why the league’s current position can’t be considered a firm stand against House Bill 2. Click below to hear the full segment: