CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ North Carolina once again is in the running to host NCAA championship games.
Days after the repeal of House Bill 2 � the reason the NCAA pulled its events for the 2016 season from the state � the association said its Board of Governors voted "reluctantly" to consider championship bids in North Carolina.
"We are actively determining site selections, and this new law has minimally achieved a situation where we believe NCAA championships may be conducted in a nondiscriminatory environment," the NCAA said in a statement Tuesday morning.
The NCAA is currently making championships site selections for 2018-2022. Charlotte is bidding to host men's basketball tournament games at the Spectrum Center for three years � 2020-2022.
The NCAA plans to announce sites on April 18.
In its statement Tuesday, the NCAA also said that championships already awarded for the 2017-2018 season will remain in the state. Additionally, the NCAA said any site awarded a championship event in North Carolina or elsewhere will be required to submit "additional documentation demonstrating how student-athletes and fans will be protected from discrimination."
Following a midday Thursday deadline reportedly set by the NCAA for state lawmakers to change HB2 or be excluded from consideration for hosting postseason games through 2022, Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law a compromise bill that repeals HB2. The controversial year-old law had disallowed local anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people, and required people in government facilities to use bathrooms that match the gender on their birth certificates.
HB2's replacement, HB142, also includes a moratorium on local ordinances regulating public accommodations or private employment practices until Dec. 1, 2020.
HB142, while "far from perfect," the NCAA said, "restores the state to that legal landscape: a landscape similar to other jurisdictions presently hosting NCAA championships."
Last week, the Atlantic Coast Conference also said it will again consider hosting its championship events in North Carolina following the HB2 replacement deal.
