NCAA elects to grant spring student-athletes an extra year of eligibility

The NCAA Division I council elected to grant an extra year of eligibility to spring student-athletes who had their seasons cut short due to the Coronavirus pandemic on Monday.

This is good news for spring sports, but the decision also came to the verdict that winter sports will not be granted an extra year, as the NCAA stated that, “all or much” of their regular seasons were completed in their release.

Among some of the other highlights of the decision, financial aid rules have been tweaked so that spring athletes can receive the same amount of benefits with their scholarships as they did during the 2019-20 athletic season.

Furthermore, the council gave relief in the form of extra scholarship aid to account for incoming players for 2020-21.

The decision should make things interesting in regards to the depth of teams and what some of the repercussions are of having an extra year of seniors.

According to an article in USA Today, an extra year of eligibility could result in nearly $500,000-900,000 of extra financial responsibility for public universities in power-five conferences if athletes elect to return for another year.

Among other side notes, the baseball roster limits of NCAA teams were also extended. It was the only sport that had that adjustment.