North Carolina and N.C. State would quit the ACC if there is another boycott, proposed bill says
A bill proposed by North Carolina legislators would require the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State to leave the Atlantic Coast Conference if it withholds events from the state again.
Last fall, the ACC moved 10 neutral-site events, including the football championship game, out of North Carolina as a protest against House Bill 2, the state’s controversial law that limited protections for LGBTQ people.
That so-called bathroom bill was repealed last week. In response, the ACC said Friday that North Carolina would again be considered to host events and that all events already slated to be played in the state next season would go on as planned.
On Tuesday, several legislators introduced House Bill 728, which states that any North Carolina public school in a conference that boycotts the state “shall immediately provide written notice to the conference that the constituent institution intends to withdraw from the conference no later than when the assignment of its media rights expire, unless the conference immediately ends the boycott.”
Rep. Mark Brody thinks it will prevent the ACC or any other conference from making such a move again.
“Now these conferences, they’re going to have to think twice about doing a boycott, especially for something that’s as out of their core mission as they did trying to influence legislation of the General Assembly,” he said. “If they do it again, now they’ll know there will be a price to pay.”
The bill still has several hurdles to clear before becoming a law.
Twitter: @chewkiii
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