NCAA moves seven championship events out of North Carolina due to HB2

Another major sports entity has moved sporting events out of the North Carolina due to its transgender bathroom law. This time, it’s the NCAA.

In a release Monday, the NCAA said it will relocate seven championship events out of North Carolina due to the HB2 law. The NBA, multiple college teams, and Russell Wilson have also moved events out of the state.

The list of events being pulled out of North Carolina vary in significance. The biggest event being taken out appears to be the first and second rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Greensboro was supposed to be one of the sites of early-round play.

These seven championship events will be relocated from North Carolina for 2016-17: 

• 2016 Division I Women’s Soccer Championship, College Cup (Cary), Dec. 2 and 4.   

• 2016 Division III Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championships (Greensboro), Dec. 2 and 3. 

• 2017 Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, first/second rounds (Greensboro), March 17 and 19. 

• 2017 Division I Women’s Golf Championships, regional (Greenville), May 8-10. 

• 2017 Division III Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships (Cary), May 22-27.  

• 2017 Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship (Cary), May 26 and 28. 

• 2017 Division II Baseball Championship (Cary), May 27-June 3. 

The decision was ultimately handled by the NCAA’s Board of Governors. In its explanation of its decision, the board was very specific in deciding why North Carolina wasn’t fit to hold events.

The board stressed that the dynamic in North Carolina is different from that of other states because of at least four specific factors: 

• North Carolina laws invalidate any local law that treats sexual orientation as a protected class or has a purpose to prevent discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals. 

• North Carolina has the only statewide law that makes it unlawful to use a restroom different from the gender on one’s birth certificate, regardless of gender identity.  

• North Carolina law provides legal protections for government officials to refuse services to the LGBT community. 

• Five states plus numerous cities prohibit travel to North Carolina for public employees and representatives of public institutions, which could include student-athletes and campus athletics staff. These states are New York, Minnesota, Washington, Vermont and Connecticut. 

So far, the state has yet to overturn the law, despite the fact that events are being taken out of the state left and right. If lawmakers don’t decide to reconsider the law after losing major events from the NCAA and NBA, what will it take?

[NCAA]