Bring the NBA All-Star Game to Massachusetts, House Speaker Robert DeLeo urges

Media reports said the NBA is now looking at moving the traditional midseason game, one of the standout dates of the basketball calendar, to New Orleans but other USA cities are also in the running. “We support [the decision]”, he added, “but at the end of the day, I love Charlotte”.

Months after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver warned North Carolina that the league might move the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte if the state didn’t overturn its bathroom law, the league announced Thursday that it has, in fact, made a decision to take away the star-studded event.

It over-rides an earlier Charlotte law that allowed transgender people to use toilets based on their own gender identity. However, he also said that he understands and supports the decision of the National Basketball Association. The league confirmed that while they cannot choose laws in the various areas where they are playing, they can move the All-Star Game week from a location where they cannot host.

The Charlotte Hornets, who would have hosted the All-Star Game in Charlotte next year, released a statement Thursday saying: “We understand the NBA’s decision and the challenges around holding the NBA All-Star Game in Charlotte this season”.

House Bill 2 is a controversial law that forbids transgender people from accessing bathrooms in public places like government offices and schools that align with the gender in which they identify with. Citizens in the state are deeply divided over the law, with supporters feeling drowned out by the condemnation of the measure, as Emily McCord has reported for NPR.

Officials in Charlotte had expected the economic impact of the event to top $100m.

A top MA lawmaker is making a play for the NBA’s 2017 All-Star Game. As of now, the ACC league will continue its football championship in Charlotte.

Paul hopes things will change so Charlotte can actually get an All-Star game. “We will do everything possible to assist the NBA, Mr. and Mrs. Benson and the New Orleans Pelicans in their efforts, if called upon”. He said he was excited to have an opportunity for a homecoming, but somethings are bigger than the game. We want to thank the City of Charlotte and the business community for their backing throughout this entire process, starting with the initial bid.

“The NBA should be ashamed of itself for using North Carolina-particularly its young girls-as a political pawns for an out-of-touch agenda that compromises both dignity interests and privacy rights”, Fitzgerald said in a statement.