Supporters of the law commonly known as House Bill 2, which, among other provisions, requires people in publicly owned buildings to use restrooms that correspond with the gender listed on their birth certificate, saw the N.C.A.A. as a fount of hypocrisy and “political peacocking.” Critics, who say the statute is discriminatory, frequently described the decision as bittersweet. Some questioned whether the N.C.A.A. should have penalized communities for the actions of the state government.

The debates sometimes appeared academic, amid copious talk about sports in a state where elementary students dress in jerseys and can rattle off the letters of the consonant-rich surname of the men’s basketball coach at Duke University (Krzyzewski).

“For so many here, college athletics is part of their identity, so I think today, it’s more than economics,” said D. Scott Dupree, the executive director of the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance, which recruits events to the area in and around the state capital. “I think people today feel disappointed, frustrated, ticked off or just plain sad, or a combination of all of the above. People take it personally.”

Some officials at the universities in the state that belong to the Atlantic Coast Conference — Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Wake Forest — expressed disappointment in the effects of the N.C.A.A.’s decision. Fan websites became forums for arguments about civil rights law instead of recruiting. Then there was the incredulity that North Carolina, which has hosted more N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament games (251) than any other state, would not do so next year.

“This cuts really deep for me,” said Mayor Nancy Vaughan of Greensboro, whose father was the A.C.C.’s associate commissioner for basketball operations. “We have a history of supporting people throughout our community, and we wish the N.C.A.A. would have made their decision based on the merits of the communities that these tournaments are in and not by something the legislature imposed on us.”