Following the repeal of the notorious House Bill 2, which was passed by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2016, the NCAA has “reluctantly” agreed to allow championship events to take place in the state of North Carolina for the foreseeable future.
In an official statement released on Tuesday, “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 news comes on the heels of the ultimatum given to the North Carolina General Assembly and newly elected Gov. Roy Cooper by the NCAA to either repeal the law by Thursday, March 30 or be denied any championship events in the state until the year 2022.
As a result, Cooper signed House Bill 142 into law March 30.
In a deftly crafted statement that was posted to its official website Tuesday, the NCAA stated that while HB142 is “far from perfect,” the organization recognizes the “quality championships hosted by the people of North Carolina in the years before HB2.” The new law “has minimally achieved a situation where we believe NCAA championships may be conducted in a nondiscriminatory environment,” according to the NCAA.
The organization added to the above statement, expressing that it “will not hesitate” to take necessary action if it finds that its “expectations of a discrimination-free environment are not met.”
In other words, and merely from a sporting perspective, HB142 did just enough to save North Carolina from losing out on millions in revenue from hosting championship events through 2022.
Because of the NCAA’s decision to take away events from North Carolina such as the ACC Football Championship and the first- and second-round games of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, many people were upset with circumstances besides the loss of revenue.
Take, for example, how both the UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke men’s basketball teams were forced to play their first- and second- round NCAA tournament games in Greenville, South Carolina after the NCAA moved the games from the Greensboro venue due to HB2 in 2016.
In its second-round matchup, Duke lost to South Carolina, 88-81. The arena was unsurprisingly filled with Gamecock fans, whereas if the game had been in Greensboro, Duke fans would more than likely have been in the majority.
After the game, some Duke fans saw the loss of home-court advantage as a direct result of HB2, and therefore saw the bill as a major factor as to why their team lost.
“As a Dukie losing to South Carolina and giving them home-court advantage, we certainly felt it,” said Pope McCorkle, associate professor at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy.
Amidst the timing of the new bill with the deadline imposed by the NCAA, the question must be asked: How big of a role did the loss of sporting events play in replacing HB2?
This question is important because of the message it carries. It took until a deadline was set in stone by the NCAA to replace HB2 with HB142. And while we may never know how big of a role this deadline had on the decision, it’s worth considering that it very well could have been a major factor, given the timeline.
This says something quite shameful of our state. It says that we placed a value on revenue and sporting advantages that came either close to, in line with or possibly even above the discrimination of human beings.
Yes, HB142 is progress for the state when it comes to getting back the collegiate and professional sporting events it once held. But the unsettling role that sports played when the decision was reached to replace HB2 quite possibly says more about North Carolina than the bill ever did itself.
