The NCAA on Friday announced it had "sent a questionnaire concerning discrimination issues to the local organizing groups in cities that have been named to host any NCAA event in any of its three competitive divisions or are interested in staging them," according to Steve Berkowitz of USA TODAY. The move is a "follow-up" to action taken by the NCAA board in April when the NCAA BOG required sites bidding on games to "demonstrate how they will provide" a safe environment. The NCAA has "awarded all championship events with pre-determined sites" through the '17-18 school year. Sites "interested in bidding on future events must respond to the questionnaire by Aug. 12." The questionnaire's implementation "could create further problems for North Carolina," which just lost the '17 NBA All-Star Game (USATODAY.com, 7/22). In N.Y., Marc Tracy noted the questionnaire includes details on how the sites would "mitigate any local discriminatory laws or rules that permit the refusal of services to members of any group." Cities that "already have been named as host sites ... will have a later, yet-to-be-determined deadline." The questionnaire followed a policy set in April by the NCAA BOG that "requires championship sites ... to 'demonstrate' how they will cultivate a tolerant, discrimination-free environment." Tracy noted the NCAA "has a history of taking progressive stances on social issues" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/23).
HITTING WHERE IT HURTS: ESPN’s Bomani Jones said the NCAA pulling events out of North Carolina "might be the thing that gets some people talking, because where that will really matter is college basketball." Jones: "That's a state with four sites that tend to host games early in the tournament and maybe even the regionals. ... Maybe, just maybe, this is the one that makes something change because this could actually affect competition in the NCAA” (“Highly Questionable,” ESPN, 7/22). In Raleigh, Luke DeCock wrote the ACC has "no choice but to start pulling its events" from North Carolina. It is "time for the ACC to follow the NBA's example and stop rewarding North Carolina politicians for shamefully discriminating" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 7/23).
