NCAA grants additional eligibility for spring sports athletes, but not winter athletes
Spring sports college athletes will get an extra year of eligibility because their seasons were shortened and canceled by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
The NCAA Division I Council approved the blanket waiver for all spring sports athletes Monday.
Winter sports athletes were not granted a waiver. There won’t be an additional year of eligibility for basketball players, among other winter sport athletes.
Schools can match aid provided to their spring athletes this year, or offer less. That decision will be up to the individual schools.
Financial aid rules will be adjusted to allow teams to carry more members on scholarship to account for incoming recruits. Schools will have the ability to use the NCAA’s Student Assistance Fund to pay for scholarships for students to take advantage of the additional year.
The NCAA said roster limits for baseball will be expanded. Currently, baseball teams can carry 35 players with 11.7 scholarships available for each team.
The decision is unprecedented, but so is the circumstance. NCAA sports ended on March 12, before the beginning of the national basketball tournaments and after the opening of spring sports.
Gone from the calendar are basketball’s Final Fours, ice hockey’s Frozen Fours, the College World Series for baseball and softball and so much more.
At the time, the NCAA said the decision was based on the “evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities.”
The NCAA’s Division II had already granted a waiver for athletes who completed in spring sports.
This story was originally published March 30, 2020 at 6:22 PM.