Kennesaw Could Host NCAA Lacrosse, Soccer Games Pulled From N.C.

North Carolina's loss could be Kennesaw State's gain.

The Atlantic Coast Conference said Wednesday that it would follow the NCAA's lead and pull its neutral-site championship games for the 2016-17 school year, including football, out of the state of North Carolina. The conference said in a statement that North Carolina's law — which requires people to use the bathroom consistent with their birth sex, not gender identity — is "inconsistent" with the ACC's values.

The NCAA has contacted Kennesaw State, according to the AJC, about hosting the soccer and lacrosse games that were to held in North Carolina.

Kennesaw State officials are determining whether the university will submit a bid.

The NCAA announced Monday that it would remove all of its 2016-17 school year championship events from the state, leaving North Carolina with few marquee sporting events to host during the season.

"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," Clemson University President James P. Clements said in the statement.

The events that will be moved include the conference's annual football championship game played at Bank of America Stadium. The other neutral-site championships that will be pulled are women's soccer; men's and women's swimming and diving; women's basketball; men's and women's tennis; women's and men's golf; and baseball.

Championships held on campus sites will remain in place, because "every one of our 15 universities is strongly committed to" the conference's values, the statement said.

“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," ACC Commissioner John Swofford said in the statement.

"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.”

The NBA moved its All-Star game, scheduled for February of 2017, from Charlotte to New Orleans. The NCAA was scheduled to play first- and second-round games of its 2017 men's basketball tournament in Greensboro.

Patch Editor Marc Torrence contributed to this report.

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