NCAA Reportedly Considering Major Change To Transfer Portal Eligibility Rules

Love it or hate it, the NCAA transfer portal isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

But as more and more coaches complain about the lack of clear rules, it may well look much different in the coming years.

Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic reports that the NCAA Division I council could make major changes to transfer portal eligibility rules at its next meeting.

Though the changes probably won’t make coaches happy. In fact, the new rule would give transfers even more power than they already have now.

“The NCAA’s Division I Council can adopt emergency legislation for a new transfer eligibility rule at its April 17-18 meeting. Proposed legislation would allow all undergraduate athletes to transfer and play immediately as long as they meet specific academic requirements,” Auerbach tweeted.

The NCAA Is Rapidly Losing The Power To Enforce Its Own Transfer Rules

The move comes in response to a ruling by a West Virginia court that temporarily barred the NCAA from enforcing a rule that prevented athletes from transferring multiple times and playing right away.

However, Auerbach reports that athletes will still not be allowed to transfer within the season and continue to play.

“In the proposed legislation, which was obtained by @TheAthletic, there’s no limit on the number of times an athlete can transfer. Transfer windows would still exist in the new system. You still can’t transfer mid-year and play for a second school in the same athletic season,” she writes.

But that may change.

“What is to stop a school from get a TRO  to allow that kind of transfer as well,” someone asked.

Auerbach replied that she was wondering the same thing.

Courts across the country have ruled against the NCAA time after time in similar cases in recent years.

Ultimately, the only way out of this is through some sort of collective bargaining agreement, which seems like it’s coming. It’s now just a matter of how and when.