NCAA memo paves way for more transferring football players to be immediately eligible next season
Football players entering the transfer portal this fall are eligible to play immediately at their new school next fall even if they are transferring for a second time or more.
That’s according to NCAA guidance sent to member schools in response to an ongoing legal battle over the association’s transfer policy.
The guidance, an update of which was sent to schools on Thursday, paves the way for football multi-time transfers to enter the NCAA transfer portal during the fall portal period and then play immediately next year without a waiver. The same goes for other fall sports, such as volleyball and soccer.
However, according to the NCAA guidance, those transfers would be subject to “any academic eligibility standards required for competition that may be developed or modified for the 2024-25 academic year.”
College leaders are expected to further study the transfer policy at the NCAA convention next month in Phoenix, Division I Board of Directors chair and Georgia president Jere Morehead told Yahoo Sports earlier this month. It’s possible that the policy, as well as academic standards around the policy, will change.
The fall transfer portal period ends Jan. 2. It is not yet certain if fall sports athletes entering the spring portal would be immediately eligible.
Under current NCAA rules, an athlete is permitted to transfer once without the penalty, allowing them to play immediately at their new school. Those transferring more than once need a waiver to play immediately.
That policy is at the center of a lawsuit brought by seven state attorney generals against the NCAA. During a hearing in West Virginia on Dec. 13, a judge ruled against the NCAA, granting plaintiffs a 14-day restraining order that lifted the association’s transfer rules and made it possible for athletes who are transferring a second time or more to play immediately without waivers.
Two days after the ruling, the NCAA agreed to extend the restraining order into a preliminary injunction that allows multi-time transfers to play immediately through the end of this academic year, which normally concludes in June.
At first thought to impact only winter and spring athletes this academic year, the guidance from the NCAA now includes fall athletes who transfer during this academic year. For instance, football players who are transferring for a second time and enter the portal this fall are eligible to compete immediately at their new school in fall 2024.
Schools in two separate conferences received clarity from the NCAA on Friday on the matter, they tell Yahoo Sports.
Yahoo Sports obtained the guidance sent to member schools in question-and-answer form. Bylaw 14.5.5.1, referenced in the Q&A, is the bylaw that requires an athlete transferring for a second time or more to sit a year before being eligible at his or her new school.
Question No. 3: Does the preliminary injunction enjoin the NCAA from enforcing Bylaw 14.5.5.1, as it relates to an undergraduate fall-sport student-athlete who transfers midyear (spring 2024), seeking confirmation of the student-athlete’s participation opportunity for the fall 2024 season?
Answer: It is not certain at this time whether the preliminary injunction will remain in effect during the 2024-25 season; however, as long as the undergraduate student-athlete transfers to another Division I institution during the 2023-24 academic year, the student-athlete will not be subject to Bylaw 14.5.5.1 during the 2024-25 academic year. The student-athlete would still be subject to any academic eligibility standards required for competition that may be developed or modified for the 2024-25 academic year.
NCAA guidance to member schools by Yahoo Sports on Scribd
