NCAA: North Carolina Will Lose Bids if HB2 Stays
North Carolina has until April 18th to repeal HB2 if they want to win any NCAA bids until 2022.
The pressure is becoming a little more real on the state of North Carolina as the NCAA has set down a deadline on action on HB2. If the state legislature does not take action on repealing or suitably amending the law, then the state will win no bids to host NCAA championship events for the next five years. Their deadline is April 18.
CORRECTION – April 18th is only the announcement date of bids from the NCAA for the 2018-2022 period. The various selection committees actually make their decisions earlier than that – as in this upcoming week. Therefore the notion that the state has a month is false. I apologize for this conclusion leap that focused on the 18th without appreciating its true significance.
The controversial ‘bathroom bill,’ that HB2 might be better known as, has continued to exist as written despite efforts to repeal it. The attention and lost revenue of the bill probably contributed to Governor Pat McCrory’s failed re-election bid in the state. Notably a number of musical events pulled out of the state, and also the ACC Tournament, NCAA Regional Games for basketball, ACC Football Championship, and the 2017 NBA All Star Game.
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The NCAA becomes the second group to hold a carrot out to the state. Changes made by April 18 would enable such games to return to the state. The NBA has held out a similar carrot of the 2019 NBA All Star Game should the state legislature repeal the bill.
The cost to the state and its member schools has already seen in some non-monetary ways. The games that would have been in Greensboro for this NCAA Basketball Tournament were moved to Greenville, SC. It marked the first NCAA Tournament games in the Palmetto State since the 2002 Confederate Flag fight.
It also meant a hostile crowd for Duke, which shared the arena with the South Carolina Gamecocks. The Gamecocks had a home court situation for a seven-two matchup, which is unusual but happened in this case. South Carolina beat Duke.
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HB2 repeal has been a stubborn process and it is by no means clear that it will ever happen. Governor Roy Cooper has yet to find the balance and package to get rid of the law to the satisfaction of the legislature. As long as it stands, it will prohibit neat sports moments from happening in the state.