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NCAA Division I Council nixes one-time eligibility waiver for transfers

It’s a move that makes sense as the NCAA is navigating how to get the college football season back up and running

2019 NCAA Division II Football Championship Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/NCAA Photos via Getty Images

The NCAA Division I Council has officially nixed a notion that would allow a one-time blanket eligibility waiver for transfers for the 2020 college football season. It’s a move that likely draws ire from most fans, but I think it should do otherwise.

It’s a move that actually does make sense. It’s a move that also guarantees college football in 2020.

The NCAA is currently working towards a way to safely and calmly bring back the 2020 college football season. They don’t need to worry about and monitor a blanketed transfer rule that would undoubtedly see a record number of transfers had it been passed.

It also just means that this one-time transfer waiver was passed upon, but never said it was completely off the table for this or another year, either.


This has major implications for most of the Power-5 schools across the country but particularly those schools who famously recruit out of state. Your California Golden Bears have 30 scholarship athletes whose home is outside of the state of California. Not saying all of those players would want to transfer to be closer to home, but that has to be some of the thinking as to why they boxed this waiver away for the time being.

The coronavirus pandemic would likely have sent a large portion of athletes who wanted to transfer home or closer to home, and it would be likely that Cal would see a few of those.

This is still a developing story, just as the return of the college football season is and we’ll keep you updated with any new information.