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ACC moving championships out of North Carolina

by Jesse Byrnes - 09/14/16 1:57 PM ET

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is joining the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in pulling its championship events out of North Carolina in response to the state’s controversial bathroom law.

The ACC, which includes major North Carolina universities Duke and UNC, announced Wednesday that it would be relocating eight championships, including football, away from the state because of the law, which critics say discriminates against transgender people.

{mosads}The move by the athletic conference of 15 universities is meant to reaffirm “our collective commitment to uphold the values of equality, diversity, inclusion and non-discrimination,” the ACC Council of Presidents said in a statement announcing the decision.

“We believe North Carolina House Bill 2 is inconsistent with these values, and as a result, we will relocate all neutral site championships for the 2016-17 academic year,” they added.

The ACC football title game had been slated to be held at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on Dec. 3.

The decision for the ACC, which also includes Florida State, Louisville, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech, among others, affects football, women’s soccer, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, women’s basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s golf, men’s golf, and baseball.

The move comes two days after the NCAA announced that it would pull its championship events from the state over the bathroom law, which requires people to use the bathroom that corresponds to their sex at birth.

Earlier this summer, the NBA also pulled its all-star game from the state over the law.

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