After all spring sports were canceled due to the spread of coronavirus, student-athletes in those sports were left wondering how their eligibility would be affected. They got answers on Monday, as the NCAA Division I Council Coordination Committee voted to approve waivers to grant athletes in spring sports an extra year of eligibility for the 2020-2021 season.
The decision is now left up to the individual schools to implement, the NCAA announced on Monday.
To account for the seniors using their extra year of eligibility and the incoming freshmen, the NCAA has extended the number of athletes a school can have on scholarship and will allow schools to use the NCAA’s Student Assistance Fund in order to do so. The NCAA will also allow schools to decrease or eliminate the amount of scholarship money that players will receive in the 2020-2021 season on a player-by-player basis.
The NCAA also increased baseball’s roster limit, which was previously set at 35.
While the NCAA approved the waivers for spring sports, they declined to extend eligibility relief to athletes in winter sports, according to the release.