The State of Indiana recently passed legislation that allows businesses to refuse service on the basis of religious beliefs, in theory making it legal to discriminate against LGBT people.
Will Big Ten really pull events out of Indiana due to new state law?
The conference has two teams in the state as well as two major championship events.
Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Now, local officials fear the Big Ten might consider moving events over the law, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Rabjohns.
The Big Ten has two members who reside in the state, Indiana and Purdue. It also holds several events in Indianapolis. The annual conference championship game in football has been held at Lucas Oil stadium since its inception, and Bankers Life Fieldhouse has regularly played host to the Big Ten basketball tournament.
“The Big Ten Conference and its member institutions believe in promoting an inclusive environment in which athletic competition can operate free from discrimination,” the conference said Friday. “The conference is aware of the bill that was recently signed into law in the state of Indiana and will further review its impact at the next scheduled meetings of its administrators, presidents and chancellors.”
What do B1G fans think?
Indiana has also come under heavy scrutiny for the new law from the NCAA, headquartered in Indianapolis. The governing body of collegiate athletics expressed concerns about the new legislation shortly after Governor Mike Pence signed it into law. In its statement, the NCAA said it supports “an inclusive environment for all our events” while warning that the new law “might affect future events as well as our workforce.”
Indiana has already lost other events. Among them, tabletop gaming convention Gen Con announced plans Thursday to cancel all of programs held within the state. Additionally, the LGBT Sports Coalition called for all major sporting events to be moved from Indiana.
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