http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba-pulls-2017-all-star-game-from-charlotte-focuses-on-new-orleans-190148437.html
The City of Charlotte passed the ordinance that led to HB2 being passed by the NC General Assembly and signed by the governor.
Why would that matter? It isn't about what arena's have or don't have, it is about State governments restricting something based on sexual orientation or gender identification.
I'm surprised that the NBA is getting involved in a political fight. But good for them for standing up for tolerance, and against stirring up hate.
I think it makes a stronger argument when you're arguing about gender neutral bathrooms if your opponent can't retort that you also don't have gender neutral bathrooms. Or maybe they do. That's what I'm asking.
It's not at all about having gender neutral bathrooms though. It's about letting people use the bathrooms for the gender they identify as.
The league office bathrooms do not discriminate, except against people who don't like to listen to NBA TV while using them.
Same--but I'm particularly happy that I'm not really surprised by it, because of how well the league has handled so many things since Silver took over. The NBA has its problems, but I appreciate that at least one major sport is willing to use its position and its power for social good.
Fine. Pardon my sloppy writing.
As far as I know, yes, and Louisiana's governor recently took steps to protect transgendered state workers as well; they may not be perfect (I haven't studied it extensively) but they're at least making moves towards the right thing.
Edited for unnecessary antagonism.
Actually boycotts rarely work. The 2010-2011 Arizona boycott did not work either. The offending laws had to be overturned by the courts, and I imagine it will play out similarly here.
They sometimes work politically.
Those poor social conservatives feel warred upon? How about the literal millions of people they've been waging war upon for decades?
The NBA is still doing business in North Carolina as well. The NBA was not scheduled to host their All-Star weekend in China.....their premier event was scheduled for Charlotte so this analogy is apples to oranges.
Okay, doing business is one thing, but the NBA specifically chooses to play exhibition games in China (Pelicans and Rockets are playing this year) in a country which has discriminatory laws against transgender individuals. Should they move that game somewhere else?
The first 3 articles are not about transgender individuals. They were men who either dressed up in disguise (first two) or just went into a ladies' locker room, and then used the law as their excuse. The 4th article was about an issue in a gender neutral bathroom, so I'm not sure how that applies to HB2, and the 5th article was about a guy who dressed as a woman and snuck into the ladies' room to peep and mentioned nothing of the law or anything about being transgender. He would have still done that regardless of a law like HB2.
I think the academic literature shows they work about 1/3 of the time, which is significant..and significantly depends on various contextual factors.
Again, you are comparing a localized exhibition game in China with the leagues premier event where tens of thousands of fans from around the country and in some cases the world are traveling to the leagues chosen city to host the event.
We're also talking about a country that is way behind anything North Carolina is doing in terms of LGBT rights.
Anecdotes are not data.
Political boycotts are harder to pull off, but consumer boycotts work all the time. Ask Seaworld, Nestle, and countless other companies.
Do you remember what happened when Gavin Newsom (the onetime mayor of San Francisco) issued marriage licenses to gays in SF in 2008? There was a conservative backlash in California that led to a law that banned gay marriage in that state.
This move was NOT easy. It will end up costing the league money (or to put more accurately the league will make less money than if it was kept in Charlotte). A culture of inclusion is hugely important to Adam and he will try to impact that where he can actually make a difference.
In a sense you are right. But its in the same sense that Brown v Board and the Civil Rights Act made it "harder" for southern blacks. Wherever the push starts, it will be returned. But it has to start somewhere.
Since you've said it twice, I'll object; the All-Star game is a fun exhibition at best, but it's nowhere near being the league's premier event.
Its more than just the game. Isn't it like a 3-day celebrity jock-sniffing masturbation fest? The league doesn't really have too many singular "events" like that. Its not my spped, but the NBA does that All star game event stuff better than anyone, IMO.
The NBA Finals are the league's biggest event by far. Unless you're restricting "event" so much that it's a meaningless topic.
You are misguided. It brings out all of the top of the top of celebrities and entertainers hosting massive parties throughout the city. It is a who's who of the famous weekend gathering. Shows, concerts, celebrations, etc.
And draws like 1/4 the viewership of a Finals game, which also pulls in a ton of celebreties and entertainers.
All-Star weekends are planned 2 years in advance. Vendor contracts and RFPs have gone out in Charlotte. Man hours have been used scouting locations. Some down payments will be forfeited. Locations for events in the new city will be more expensive to lockdown as the date is much closer. The league will not be crying about this, but logistically this is a hard event to plan, setup and execute, and the normal timeline is a little over 2 years.
You're both right? Finals the game is the event. All-Star is a huge showcase staged event. The Finals are the highest rated/most valuable. But All-Star is a showcase made up by the league and extremely valuable to corporate partners (none of which get the same access at Finals). There's a reason Blake Griffin jumped over a Kia.
