As NCAA, ACC pull championship events from state because of HB2, Elon could see impact

As North Carolina’s House Bill 2 continues to attract national attention, Elon University athletics may see an impact come to its campus.

Last week, both the NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) pulled their neutral-site championship events out of North Carolina, with the NCAA pulling four Division I championship events and the ACC pulling all eight of its neutral-site championships.
Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) commissioner Joe D’Antonio released a statement Wednesday, saying the conference is, “monitor[ing] all aspects of a conference championship event being held in the state of North Carolina.”

“At all CAA championship events, our goal is to provide an environment in which our fans, student-athletes, administrators and all people involved in the event are treated fairly and in a non-discriminatory manner,” D’Antonio said. “I will continue to work with our Council of Presidents and athletic directors in assessing this matter going forward.”

Elon is one of two full-time members in the CAA in North Carolina, along with the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. There are four in-state championship events in 2016-2017, with Elon hosting the tennis championships in April 2017. UNCW is hosting the volleyball and baseball championships, and the women’s golf championship tournament will be held at the St. James Plantation golf course in Southport, North Carolina.

In an interview, D’Antonio stressed that, while there is no timetable for a verdict about the events in the state, the CAA will make a decision “relatively quickly.”
While the ACC allowed for its six championships hosted by North Carolina universities to remain on campus, D’Antonio said the CAA isn’t differentiating between neutral-site events and events hosted by a participating school.

“As we analyze the situation at hand, we’re looking at all aspects and scenarios associated with our championships,” he said. “Whether or not I see the two being distinctively different in terms of making decisions is irrelevant at this time, because we’re looking everywhere. We’re calling it a ‘totality-of-the-circumstances’ analysis.”
In addition to the championships, Elon is the only North Carolina school in the 12-team CAA Football conference. The State University of New York at Albany is a public school in the CAA Football conference, but New York is one of five states to have passed a publicly funded travel ban to North Carolina.

This season, Elon travels to Albany on Oct. 29 to play in football, but Albany is supposed to return to Elon next season. D’Antonio said the conference is considering what to do about the travel situation, but made note that the Elon-Albany matchup is the only situation currently presenting an issue.