STAFF REPORTS
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Student athletes who lost their spring seasons to the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown will have their eligibility extended by one-year, the NCAA Division I Council voted Monday.
The ruling was expected, and allows schools to provide spring-sport student athletes an extra season of competition while also granting schools the financial aid flexibility that will let teams carry more athletes on scholarship to allow for incoming recruits.
The council’s ruling also provides schools the flexibility to allow athletes with extended eligibility to return to school without requiring the institutions provide the same level of scholarship aid that was granted for the 2019-2020 spring season.
A story posted by the NCAA quotes Council Chair M. Grace Calhoun stating, “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.”
Winter sports were not included in the
decision. Council members declined to extend eligibility for student-athletes
in sports where all or much of their regular seasons were completed.
