▶Division I Council on the verge of allowing transfer athletes to play immediately.

New proposal will allow students to play immediately

Whether it is the start of free agency in college sports or simply the fair thing to do for the athletes, the NCAA is about to make a monumental change to its transfer rules.

The Division I Council meets Wednesday and Thursday, and the agenda includes voting on a proposal that would grant all college athletes the ability to transfer one time as undergraduates without having to then sit out a season of competition.

All indications are the proposal will pass. When it does, athletes in football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and men’s ice hockey will for the first time be immediately eligible to play after switching schools without asking for special permission.

For decades, the penalty of giving up a year of eligibility helped deter athletes from transferring, at least in those high-profile sports. In all other NCAA sports, athletes were allowed to switch schools once before graduating and play immediately.

The exception will soon be available to everyone — which is likely to mean more transfers than ever.

South Dakota State athletic director Justin Sell, a member of the council, said the lack of uniformity in the rules across sports had become difficult to justify.

“Trying to create opportunities for students that are equitable across the board, it becomes much more difficult to create a case of why a football student-athlete should be sitting out when a volleyball student-athlete doesn’t have to,” Sell said.

The NCAA has been examining its rules regarding athletes who transfer seemingly forever. But three and a half years ago Sell was put in charge of a working group tasked with making substantive changes.

Sell’s group considered the idea of lifting the year-in-residence rule, which forced athletes to sit out the year after transferring, but never quite got there.

Instead, the waiver process was tweaked to allow athletes to receive immediate eligibility by showing a hardship of some sort that necessitated the transfer.

The council was set to vote in January, but the Justice Department warned the NCAA its rule changes regarding transfers and name, image and likeness compensation might violate antitrust laws. NIL reform is still bogged down, but there is optimism the council can move forward on transfer rules.

If not, the council is prepared to pass a blanket waiver that would give all athletes transferring this year immediate eligibility. That is not the preferred route.

The main issue still to be hammered out are deadline dates for athletes to notify their schools they intend to transfer.