NCAA Grants Extra Year of Eligibility For All Spring Sports
The NCAA has announced that they will indeed allow spring sport athletes an additional year of eligibility.
Grace Calhoun, chair of NCAA D1 Council Athletics Director issued the following statement today:
"The council's decision gives individual schools the flexibility to make decisions at a campus level. The Board of Governors encouraged conferences and schools to take action in the best interest of student-athletes and their communities, and now schools have the opportunity to do that."
As first reported by Nicole Auerbach of the Athletic, the NCAA has approved a blanket waiver for all spring sports and the decision to do so will be given to each individual school. It is also worth noting that they will add additional roster spots to the baseball team which is constricted.
Additionally, players given the option to return for an additional year of eligibility will do so at either the same or potentially less scholarship. Unlike football, the majority of male athletes in Division 1 sports are on partial scholarships that are based on a percentage of the total scholarship allotment for each individual sport. It is not yet clear if the NCAA will provide additional scholarship spots, or if the schools themselves will have to add the additional year of eligibility for athletes based on the old scholarship allotment.
Winter sports such as Men's and Women's basketball will not be granted an additional year of eligibility under this new blanket waiver.
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