The Atlantic Coast Conference has followed in the footsteps of the NCAA and the NBA by moving its championship games out of North Carolina for the 2016-17 season in response to a statewide bathroom law that is widely seen as discriminatory to transgender people.
The college football championship had been scheduled to be played in Charlotte on Dec. 3, and the move will also affect other sports scheduled to be played around the state, including tennis, golf, baseball and soccer.
“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. 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,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said in a statement, according to USAToday.com.
The ACC has a strong presence in North Carolina: Four of the conference’s 15 members are in the state, and its headquarters is located in Greensboro.
On Monday, the NCAA said that it will move seven college championships out of North Carolina. In July, the NBA announced it would move the 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte. This marked “the first time in U.S. history that a professional sporting event was moved in response to anti-LGBT legislation,” the league said in a statement at the time.
See below for the original dates and sites for the neutral site ACC championships affected, per USA Today.
Women’s soccer: Nov. 4, 6; Cary
Football: Dec. 3; Charlotte
Men’s and women’s swimming and diving: Feb. 15-18; Greensboro
Women’s basketball: March 1-5; Greensboro
Men’s and women’s tennis: April 26-30; Cary
Women’s golf: April 21-23, Greensboro
Men’s golf: April 21-23; New London
Baseball: May 23-28; Durham