ACC Commissioner John Swofford on Thursday said that the NBA's decision to pull its '17 All-Star Game from Charlotte "won't have any bearing" on the ACC Championship Game's future at Bank of America Stadium, according to Andrea Adelson of ESPN.com. The league in May "decided to keep" the football game in Charlotte despite the controversial HB2. Swofford, speaking at the ACC's kickoff event in Charlotte on Thursday, said that the league "would revisit the discussion at their fall meetings in October." Swofford: "Whatever we do won't be because of what the NBA does. And I don't mean that disrespectfully. We'll do what we think is right and best for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Right now what our schools want to do is to see how this plays out and where it ends up, because it's still in process to one degree or another and the courts may well ultimately decide that" (ESPN.com, 7/21). In Raleigh, Andrew Carter notes the football title game "has found a regular home in Charlotte, and the state of North Carolina is a regular host of other ACC championships." The women’s basketball tournament is "scheduled to be at the Greensboro Coliseum" through '22. The ACC’s baseball tournament also "was at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in May and is scheduled to remain there" through '18. Additionally, NCAA Tournament games "also are scheduled for venues in the state" the next two years. Swofford: “One of the problems that the NCAA has is that there are some similar laws in other states where they have championships. And so that can be somewhat of a slippery slope for an organization that jumps into that. But at the same time they’ve got the same concerns our conference would have" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 7/22).
HOLDING OUT HOPE: Greensboro Sports Commissioner President Kim Strable on Thursday said that he "hopes that NCAA sporting events already scheduled for Greensboro would be safe." He added that the city also has "begun bidding for future events." Strable: "It’s going to be a guessing game. And we’re not just talking about Greensboro but also Charlotte and Raleigh and cities across North Carolina. The NBA announcement should be a wakeup call. It should be something that tells us this isn’t going away” (Greensboro NEWS & RECORD, 7/22).
