The NCAA has looked the gift horse in the mouth… and kicked it squarely in the teeth.
The NCAA scored PR points on some, but not all, fronts Wednesday as its Board of Governors voted to allow student-athletes to profit off their names, images and likenesses (NILs). One day later, the NCAA’s Board of Directors and its Presidential Forum have recommended to the Division I Council that the proposal on a one-time transfer waiver is “not appropriate at this time.”
In February, the NCAA announced a Division I Transfer Working Group was established to consider granting all student-athletes a one-time transfer without restrictions. The Big Ten officially proposed the transfer penalty rule be scrapped, and the ACC has endorsed the proposal.
From the NCAA’s release Thursday:
The waiver working group also recommended the board lift the moratorium on transfer legislation to allow the membership to consider proposals that could provide permanent access to the one-time transfer opportunity for all Division I student-athletes.
The board agreed to lift the moratorium on transfer legislation for the 2020-21 legislative cycle but recommended to the Council that changes to the waiver process as suggested by the working group are not appropriate at this time. Board members recommended the waiver process be sensitive to student-athlete well-being, especially those impacted by COVID-19 in the interim period.
The Board of Governors’ recommendation is just that, a recommendation. It’s non-binding. The Division I Council can still approve the one-time transfer waiver. According to the NCAA, the “Council could vote on the guideline changes as early as its May meeting.”
It had originally been thought the Council would take up the matter and vote on it in April.
Unaware of what exactly the Council is? Allow the NCAA to explain it itself:
The Division I Council is a high-level group responsible for the day-to-day decision-making for Division I. Athletics directors, athletics administrators, senior women administrators, faculty athletics representatives and student-athletes serve on the Council. Every Division I conference is represented on the Council, which replaces the Leadership and Legislative Councils in the previous structure.
