Bill requiring UNC, NC State to play App and East Carolina clears committee (2024)

A state House bill that would require North Carolina and North Carolina State to play each other annually in football, and men’s and women’s basketball cleared its first committee step Tuesday.

The bipartisan House Bill 965, which would require at least one men’s and women’s basketball matchup per season, is meant to preserve the rivalry if the Tar Heels and Wolfpack are separated by conference realignment.

HB965 also would require UNC and NC State to regularly play Appalachian State, East Carolina and UNC Charlotte in football and basketball, beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

The House Education-University committee recommended the bill with one change to Appropriations, the second of a three-committee step in the House.

The amendment would allow Charlotte to move home games affected by the bill to neutral sites, such as Bank of America Stadium in football and Spectrum Center in basketball.

The bill only affects athletic departments at universities with at least 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

UNC, N.C. State and Charlotte would be required to:

HB965 comes as the UNC System Board of Governors said it will attach UNC and N.C. State at the hip in any potential future conference realignment if the Atlantic Coast Conference ceases to exist.

UNC is considered one, if not the top, choice of the Southeastern Conference and the Big 10 Conference because of the media attractiveness of the Triangle and UNC’s stature among the nation’s top public academic universities.

The bill came after Clemson and Florida State sued to leave the ACC, with the ACC countersuing.

According to WRAL, the measure requires schools to provide advance notice of any conference changes, including a report on the financial impact, for the board president’s approval.

The UNC System president can approve or reject the plan, while the board could also vote to reject a plan initially approved.

According to the bill, the goal is promoting economic development and sports tourism in North Carolina ... and “to ensure that eligible constituent institutions of the University of North Carolina regularly compete against each other in eligible sports.”

But the legislation could hamper UNC, N.C. State and Charlotte’s ability to schedule nonconference games.

UNC and N.C. State play eight ACC football, 20 men’s basketball and 18 women’s basketball games. That leaves room for four nonconference games in football and 11 in men’s basketball and 13 in women’s basketball.

UNC, N.C. State and Charlotte already play the other schools in football.

For the 2024 football season, Charlotte is playing at UNC on Sept. 7 and hosting fellow AAC rival East Carolina on Oct. 5.

N.C. State hosts Western Carolina on Aug. 29, while UNC hosts N.C. Central on Sept. 14.

Recently, UNC has had a home-and-home scheduling with Appalachian State in football and is scheduled to host N.C. A&T in 2028.

N.C. State has Appalachian State and East Carolina on the 2025 schedule, Appalachian State on the 2026 schedule, N.C. A&T on the 2027 schedule, East Carolina on the 2028 schedule and Charlotte on the 2030 and 2031 schedule.

However, scheduling for men’s and women’s basketball could be trickier given nonconference games typically are not scheduled more than a year in advance, unless they are part of a high-level tournament.

For example, both UNC men’s and women’s play a national nonconference schedule with likely only one spot available to meet the legislation each season.

There is precedent for legislative action to compel UNC and N.C. State to play at least East Carolina.

In 1995, legislators compelled UNC and N.C. State to resume football games against East Carolina beginning in 1999, including an away game in Greenville.

For years, both UNC and N.C. State declined to play East Carolina, then an independent, because of recruiting issues, the limited number of nonconference dates available and a philosophy that neither had anything to gain by such a game.

At one time, the ECU-N.C. State rivalry has produced eight of the top-10 highest attended college football games in North Carolina.