NCAA on brink of allowing one-time immediate-eligibility transfer for all athletes

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The Division I Council, the NCAA’s primary legislative body made up mostly of school athletic administrators, met Thursday to iron out details of the landmark legislation, which reverses a policy from the 1960s. The group is expected to meet April 15 to approve the measure, sources told Sports Illustrated. The new transfer legislation would go into effect immediately after it is approved by the NCAA Board of Governors.

Under current transfer rules, athletes in five sports, including football and men's and women's basketball, are ineligible in the first year they transfer unless they receive a waiver. The new rule would allow all athletes to move freely at least once, though it includes some stipulations. Athletes must submit notification of transfer by certain dates to be eligible at their next location.

“Students ought to have that ability to transfer once during their career and I understand the complexity that creates for coaches and roster management, but I think it is overdue we provide that flexibility,” Mark Emmert says.

What he did not mention is that the driving force behind the latest progressive rule changes from the NCAA is, likely, Congress. The NCAA is desperately lobbying Congress to create a federal bill to govern name, image and likeness (NIL) and preempt a bevy of state laws that are being hurriedly passed. Because of this, the organization finds itself at the mercy of Congressional members who, on both sides of the aisle, are publicly skewering the association’s amateurism model and pushing for progressive changes, such as the transfer policy.

“What I’ve heard about the conversation with Mark Emmert is a clear sign of lack of leadership,” Sen. Richard Blumenthall (D-Conn.) said earlier Thursday. “He says he wants Congress to help him—well, we’re going to give him hell.”

Intra-conference transfers are another sticking point. Many leagues force players to sit a year when moving from one conference school to another. Conferences would have to adjust their own rules to mirror the NCAA’s new change.

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