Over the weekend, Governor Greg Abbott fired back at the NFL after NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy stated on Friday that the NFL would not hold Super Bowls in Texas if Abbott signed a transgender bill into law.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told the Associated Press that Texas’ proposed Senate Bill 6 would “certainly be a factor considered when thinking about awarding future events.” SB 6 states, “A school district or open-enrollment charter school shall adopt a policy requiring each multiple-occupancy bathroom or changing facility accessible to students that is located in a school or school facility to be designated for and used only by persons based on the person’s biological sex.”
On Saturday, Abbott blasted the NFL on Twitter:
The NFL is imitating the NCAA, which told the state of North Carolina in 2016 it would not hold championship events in the state after North Carolina passed a similar transgender bill.
CBS News reported, “Unlike the North Carolina law, the Texas proposal stops short of some provisions the NCAA singled out when defending its decision to relocate events last fall. That includes language that invalidates local equal-rights ordinances, although there is separate legislation in Texas that could have similar effects.”
Texas Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick has been leading the charge to get SB 6 passed; his spokesman Alejandro Garcia told AP, “Despite persistent misinformation in the media, under Senate Bill 6, all Texas teams will be able to set their own policies at the stadiums and arenas where they play and hold their events. There is no conflict with the NFL’s statement today and Senate Bill 6.”