ACC pulls tourney because of a flag
In the ersatz, Kafkaesque world of journalism brought to the American public by Disney's ABC-TV or General Electric's NBC-MSNBC combo or Rupert Murdoch's FOX or Sumner Redstone's CBS or Time Warner's CNN or even Mort Zuckerman's New York Daily News steroids-r-us sports section, occasionally something rather important is somehow lost. There is a huge story out there that has flown under the radar screen. The college sports Atlantic Coast Conference, a group of 12 colleges and universities that complete in a league, has pulled out of a deal that would have placed the conference's baseball tournament that was scheduled to be played in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 2011, 2012 and 2013 because South Carolina still flies the confederate flag at the state capital in Columbia and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) wants to see that practice ended.
The ACC put out a statement on July 6 announcing the decision and why the ACC is taking the action now. Apparently the ACC felt everyone in South Carolina was on board until the NAACP voiced some concerns.
"The ACC’s decision to hold the tournament in this location was made with the stipulation that discussions be held, and agreements made, with all local and state organizations that had voiced concerns over the confederate flag being flown on the state grounds of the South Carolina State Capitol," read the ACC statement.
"Since 2000, the conference has supported the NAACP’s statements concerning the flag issue and followed the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) policy of not holding pre-determined championships in the state of South Carolina. In 2005, the conference presidents agreed that the ACC would be willing to consider awarding league championships to venues in the state of South Carolina on a case-by-case basis, provided that the host-site proposal included a plan to work with the NAACP at the local and state levels to ensure a proper environment.
“Our baseball committee and institutional administrators awarded the championships to Myrtle Beach with the understanding that the event had the blessings of all parties within the state of South Carolina. It has become clear this was not the case,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford in a released statement. “It’s unfortunate that this miscommunication occurred and since the original announcement, we have had productive conversations with members of the NAACP. In the end, given the conference’s commitment to diversity, equality and human rights, our institutions have determined that this change should be made.”
While the ACC should be applauded for pulling the tournament, it seems that someone did not the due diligence that is required when doing the deal and that is Swofford's responsibility. This is not the first time that a sports league or conference pulled out of a scheduled sports event because of civil rights issues.
The old American Football League made a historical statement in perhaps the biggest civil rights showdown in sports history in late 1964. New Orleans missed out on hosting the 1965 American Football League All-Star Game and getting an AFL franchise because a group of players and AFL owners had a social conscience.
AFL Players Association co-founder Jack Kemp was selected to play in that game and became a major player in the decision that would eventually be made to pull the game out of New Orleans.
Kemp and his white teammates saw their teammates, African American players, have cabs pass them by at the airport when they needed a ride to New Orleans, could not eat with their African America teammates in New Orleans restaurants nor could they stay in the same hotels in December 1964.
There were 21 African American players who were selected to be play in the game.
The American Football League was looking to expand and decided that New Orleans would be a perfect fit for the five-year-old league. The AFL owners’ plans included a January 1965 All-Star game at Tulane Stadium and an announcement at the game that the league was going to put a team in the city. But the idea came to a sudden halt because a group of players were appalled that African American players could not get hotel rooms in New Orleans or eat at city restaurants because of their skin color. This occurred after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had been passed by Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Kemp and the white All-Stars said they would support whatever decision the 21 African Americans made after their meeting about boycotting the 1965 AFL All Star Game.
Their decision was to boycott the game.
The outraged group of AFL players called Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams and said they were going to boycott the game. The eight AFL owners league moved the contest to Houston. It was the first time that players and owners together showed social concern and boycotted a city. It was a remarkable showing of solidarity and backbone but it was the 1960s and some athletes, like the AFL players, took stands in those days. The boycott ended the chance that New Orleans would get an AFL team.
Decades later the National Football Leagued yanked the January 1993, Super Bowl XXVII in 1992 from Tempe's Sun Devil Stadium because Arizona refused to recognize Martin Luther King Day, a holiday that was first celebrated nationally on a state-by-state basis in 1986.
Initially, NFL owners had no real interest in Arizona politics because the league didn't have a team in the state. Former Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt had also declared that Arizona would celebrate the holiday in 1987, even though the state legislature failed to pass legislation to officially recognize the holiday. However, newly-elected Governor Meacham rescinded the holiday in 1987 because it was "illegally created." Again, this was no major concern for the NFL as it had no business interests there other than having its games aired on both radio and TV within the state.
In 1987, St. Louis Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill struck out in his four-year bid to get St. Louis to build a new facility for his football club and decided to move to Tempe because the Arizona State University's stadium had a much larger capacity than St. Louis's Busch Stadium, and he preferred the warm climate of the Southwest. It was then that the NFL was forced into the Martin Luther King Day holiday controversy. Bidwill's Cardinals bombed at the gate in their first season and in March 1990 the NFL decided to give Bidwill a boost by awarding Super Bowl XXVII to Tempe. NFL owners knew that Arizona was not celebrating the King holiday but were given assurances by Arizona business and political leaders that the state would change its stance and recognize the federal holiday. They also knew that there was an economic boycott of the state and that they were going to get involved in a politically sensitive issue in the state.
After Governor Meacham canceled the King holiday in 1987, performer Stevie Wonder announced that he would boycott performing in Arizona, and convention planners also bypassed the state. The battle was on. In 1989, the state legislature passed legislation to create a state holiday honoring King but opponents managed to get enough signatures to get voters in the state to decide on whether or not to honor King in November 1990. Arizona voters overturned the legislature's decision and the NFL pulled Super Bowl XXVII from Tempe and moved it to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
But that was not the end of the story. NFL owners along with the National Football League Players Association stepped up the pressure on the Arizona legislature and told local politicians that the league would never consider playing a Super Bowl in the Phoenix area unless the state recognized the holiday.
The January 1996 Super Bowl became available, and the NFL was making noises that it was interested in going to Tempe if Arizona finally said yes to Martin Luther King Day. In 1992, Arizona voters had another chance at passing a referendum recognizing the King holiday, with a vote of 62–38, and approved the establishment of the holiday. About four-and-a-half months later, in March 1993, NFL awarded Super Bowl XXX to Tempe. The Arizona State College of Business claimed that the 1996 Super Bowl had a $305.8 million impact on Arizona and supposedly created 6,040 jobs.
The ACC tournament isn't the Super Bowl or even the American Football League All Star Game from the mid-1960s but Myrtle Beach is losing some revenue as hotels, restaurants and other businesses would have been using the area's facilities so there will be an economic impact. The ACC decision is notable in that other college conferences such as the Southeast Conference along with the Southern and Big South Conferences have held tournaments in South Carolina. Perhaps the ACC has found some backbone which is more than Redstone, Murdoch, Disney, Time Warner and General Electric can say or produce in their ersatz, Kafka world.
evanjweiner@yahoo.com
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ACC pulls tourney because of a flag
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