Minnesota State Colleges and Universities won't play in North Carolina hosted tourneys

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:54 p.m. ET

foxsports

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A Minnesota state university system is prohibiting athletics teams from traveling to tournaments in North Carolina this spring after that state passed a law limiting LGBT protections.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system communications director Doug Anderson said no teams will participate in tournaments in North Carolina this spring. The NCAA Division II national baseball tournament and National Junior College Athletic Association Division III World Series are set to take place in North Carolina.

Anderson said system presidents met this week, concluding "that athletics-related travel is nonessential."

It follows Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton's separate directive to state employees last month to stop nonessential travel to North Carolina because of its new law limiting protections for gays, lesbians and transgender people. That order didn't directly apply to the university system.