NBA takes firm stance moving All-Star game, will NCAA follow that lead?

The NBA's decision to move its All-Star weekend from Charlotte in a response to the state's anti-LGBT legislation made the league's stance on inclusion strikingly clear.

The NCAA, college sports' governing body, has not made its stance clear yet. The organization changed its policy for championship events in April by implementing an anti-discrimination process for host bids, but that process has yet to finalize key details and the organization's definition of "inclusive environments" hasn't been fully specified. Meanwhile, North Carolina is slated to host a bevy of NCAA events in the next few years — meaning the altered policy would not have a direct impact right away, when experts believe it's necessary, like the NBA did Thursday.

NBA plans to move 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte due to anti-LGBT bill

"The NBA handled it perfectly in my eyes," said Outsports co-founder Cyd Zeigler. "They tried to get the law appealed, then legislatures tried to patch up the law and they said, nope. And now, the league is taking action. The NCAA, at the end of the day, is saying discrimination is OK by not acting like the NBA. Every move they make is a step in the right direction, I'll give them that. But every day that goes by where (the NCAA) doesn't move an event, they're approving discrimination. Period."

Cities and towns around the state of North Carolina are scheduled to host at least 20 championship events in the next two-plus years, including the Division I men's basketball tournament and the Division I Women's College Cup soccer finals. First- and second-round games of the basketball tournament are set for Greensboro in 2017 and Charlotte in 2018. The soccer event is to be held in Cary, which has hosted numerous men's and women's finals in that sport.

When religion and the LGBT collegiate athlete collide

Division I women's basketball first- and second-round tournament sites are awarded annually, usually to the top 16 seeded teams. Similar arrangements are made for the sites of Division I baseball tournament regionals and super regionals. Teams from schools in the state often do well enough to host those events.

But Greensboro, Cary, Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Wingate and Conover already have been selected to host championship events in other Division I sports and/or Division II and Division III championships. For example, the eight-team, week-long Division II baseball championship is set for Cary this year and the next two.

Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina coaches condemn 'embarrassing' HB2 bill

Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride, said the NCAA has been more talk than action.

"The NCAA does not speak with one voice, I understand that," Windmeyer said. "They have the membership, the national office, individual teams and so on. But it has been challenging to work with the NCAA because they clearly do not share the common values when it comes to diversity and inclusion. They say a lot of positive things, but where's the action?"

In interviews with USA TODAY Sports, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called the HB2 bill "embarrassing"  and North Carolina State coach Mark Gottfried said he was "appalled" by the bill.