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Earlier this afternoon several Tweets from noted sports journalists stated that the NCAA was exploring some sort of relief for spring sport student athletes whose 2020 seasons were shutdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The NCAA’s Council Coordination Committee has agreed to grant relief for the use of a season of competition for student-athletes who have participated in spring sports.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 13, 2020
Committee will also discuss issues for winter sport student-athletes.
As more Tweets started popping up, it appeared that the NCAA was leaning towards granting spring sport student athletes an extra year of eligibility.
— College Crosse (@College_Crosse) March 13, 2020
Per source, NCAA sent a note to membership today saying it believes "it will be appropriate to grant relief for the use of a season for competition for student-athletes who have participated in spring sports."
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) March 13, 2020
NCAA will start working on issues tied to this & winter athletes.
Then around 2:00 PM the Inside the NCAA Twitter account Tweeted out a post that confirmed much of the earlier speculation and provided clarity on the issue. The Tweet stated that the NCAA Board of Governors encouraged conferences and schools to make decisions in the best interest of their students and to consider “necessary adjustments to or waivers of rules where appropriate.”
NCAA Board of Governors guidance to members: pic.twitter.com/SrTxuO4XuM
— Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) March 13, 2020
Division I Council Coordination Committee agrees eligibility relief is appropriate for spring sports: pic.twitter.com/u7hwYOyTDV
— Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) March 13, 2020
Here's what the NCAA is doing on giving spring sports another year of eligibility. From a letter to membership: "The (Committee) agreed that it will be appropriate to grant relief for the use of a season of competition for (athletes) who have participated in spring sports."
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 13, 2020
As an initial matter, this is great news for many college lacrosse seniors around the country whose last year with their programs were cut short because of COVID-19 epidemic. Not every senior will use that extra year, but everyone will hopefully be able to at least explore the possibility of playing another year of college lacrosse if they want to play. There are still many questions & unresolved issues but this is certainly a move in the right direction.
The committee working on this issue and how to make it work (financial aid implications, etc.) is a standing committee called the Division I Council Coordination Committee, and it says it will work on this in "a timely manner."
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) March 13, 2020
Essentially, this year didn’t happen for a lack of a better term. Every player gets another year of eligibility and it all resets. Obviously there will be players who don’t choose to continue, but the option is there and everyone stays at their current eligibility.
— College Crosse (@College_Crosse) March 13, 2020
It will be interesting to see what the Ivy League does here. As a rule the conference does not allow students to play a 5th year. Will the Ivy make an exemption for this black swan event? If the Ivy waives the rule, will there be a roster limit? I don’t know the answers to those questions, but I do know there will be an extremely active transfer market this summer if the Ivy doesn’t make a 5th year accommodation for its players.
So you’re telling me there’s a chance https://t.co/7ZAiWtyNTK
— TD Ierlan (@td_ierlan) March 13, 2020