ACC pulling championships from NC over House Bill 2

CBS North Carolina – CLEMSON, S.C. (WNCN) – The Atlantic Coast Conference is pulling championships from North Carolina due to House Bill 2.

In a statement, the ACC Council of Presidents said:

As members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the ACC Council of Presidents reaffirmed our collective commitment to uphold the values of equality, diversity, inclusion and non-discrimination. Every one of our 15 universities is strongly committed to these values and therefore, we will continue to host ACC Championships at campus sites. We believe North Carolina House Bill 2 is inconsistent with these values, and as a result, we will relocate all neutral site championships for the 2016-17 academic year. All locations will be announced in the future from the conference office."

The neutral site championships impacted include:

Women's Soccer

Football

Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving

Women's Basketball

Men's and Women's Tennis

Women's Golf

Men's Golf

Baseball

Clemson University President James P. Clements is the chair of the ACC Council of Presidents. Upon making the announcement, he said, "The ACC presidents engaged in a constructive, wide-ranging and vigorous discussion of this complex issue over the past two days. The decision to move the neutral site championships out of North Carolina while HB 2 remains the law was not an easy one but it is consistent with the shared values of inclusion and non-discrimination at all of our institutions."

John Swofford, the ACC Commissioner, said in a statement,"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. Hopefully, there will be opportunities beyond 2016-17 for North Carolina neutral sites to be awarded championships."

This blow to North Carolina follows the NCAA decision to pull seven championships from the state due to House Bill 2 concerns.

Some Democratic state lawmakers called for a special session after the NCAA announcement, but there is no indication Republicans will agree to it.