Either Gonzaga or North Carolina will cut down the nets in Phoenix tonight, and when they do, San Antonio will be the real winner, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Mary Japhet of the San Antonio Organizing Committee says the Alamo City will be 'on the clock' when the final buzzer sounds, as all of the madness of March 2018 will descend on the newly renovated and upgraded Alamodome.
But County Judge Nelson Woff is still keeping a wary eye on the Texas Legislature, where a bill restricting transgender bathroom use has the potential to scuttle the entire thing.
"Look at what North Carolina did," Woff said, referring to a decision made Friday to repeal a similar bill on the books in that state, a law which cost the Tar Heel State a 2017 regional NCAA Championship round, as well as the 2017 NBA All Star Game. "They just changed their law. They realized how much it cost them. $2.8 billion dollars. Not Million, but Billion!"
The NCAA has never specifically threatened to pull the 2018 Final Four from San Antnoio if a similar bill is passed here. But the Legislature adjourns late next month, which means any bill would have to be approved before then, giving the NCAA plenty of time to find an alternative site if it chose.
"But the NCAA has made it clear that if something discriminary is passed in this state, they're not coming here," Wolff said. "They certainly did not go to North Carolina."
Even though the State Senate easily passed the bill, which restricts the use of public rest rooms to the gender on the person's birth certificate, the bill is facing major hurdles in the House. Speaker Joe Straus has said flatly that he 'opposes' the bill, and State Rep. Byron Cook (R-Corsicana), who heads the State Affairs Committee, where the bill will be considered, has said he doesn't think the bill is necessary.
Wolff says the sooner the bill is dead and buried, the better for San Antonio. The Men's NCAA Final Four is the second biggest sporting event in the country, behind only the Super Bowl.
"I don't understand why we are even consiering it, it is beyond my way of thinking," Wolff said. "I know there are people out there who are doing the right thing, but I don't grasp it."
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