As the NCAA Division I Board of Directors announced on Friday that it was working toward holding its fall championships in the spring, the organization also announced that they would stretch protections for student-athletes even further. The protections come amid growing uncertainty for the fall season of the NCAA amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The NCAA Division I Council voted on Wednesday to move fall championships until spring, and Friday’s vote by the Board of Directors made that official.
After the Division I Council recommended that student-athletes from fall sports be given another year of eligibility, regardless of whether or not they play in the 2020-2021 season, the Board of Directors approved that those scholarships from student-athletes who take advantage should not count against team limits.
There were concerns, when the NCAA announced the plan to give an extra year of eligibility to all fall sport athletes, about how that might impact future student-athletes’ ability to earn scholarships.
The new ruling by the NCAA will dispel those concerns, as teams will essentially have extra scholarships for the next four years, to varying degrees per team.
This, however, gives rise to a new concern: on a day when the University of Iowa cut it’s men’s swimming & diving program, while this scholarship relief can be a competitive boost for college programs, it also brings a new cost in a period where colleges are struggling financially.
For example, if every University of Iowa football player were to take advantage, that could amount to more than $2.5 million in additional scholarship money over the next five years. The reality is that not all will wind up using that extra year, but ultimately this will be an additional cost for most athletics departments.
Schools, while they are not allowed to cancel or reduce scholarships for student-athletes who choose not to participate this season because of COVID-19, are not required to keep those student-athletes on for a 5th year of eligibility.
Other Council-recommended protections approved by the Board of Directors:
The board also adopted the Council-recommended protections for college athletes:
- Schools are prohibited from requiring student-athletes to waive legal rights regarding COVID-19 as a condition of athletics participation.
- Schools are prohibited from canceling or reducing athletics scholarships if a college athlete in any sport opts not to participate due to COVID-19.
- Student-athletes who do not enroll full time during the 2020 fall term have flexibility in the progress-toward-degree requirements that must be met for eligibility in future terms.
- The financial aid of fall sport senior student-athletes who take advantage of the additional year of eligibility and extended clock will not count against team limits in 2021-22.
- Schools are required to:
- Review current insurance coverage for all student-athletes who are competing this fall.
- Inform student-athletes about the risk classification of their sport as outlined in the Resocialization of Collegiate Sport document.
- Inform student-athletes how the mandates in the Resocialization of Collegiate Sport document are being met at their campus.
Division II
The Division II Presidents Council approved further COVID-19 protections for athletes as well that are similar to those extended to Division I.
Student-athletes in Division II will have until October 1 to decide whether to participate in the 2020-2021 season and be protected from losing any athletic aid. After October 1, institutions have the choice about whether to maintain athletic aid or not.
The Division II Administrative Committee previously took action to allow institutions to self-apply season-of-competition waivers for student-athletes for the 2020-21 academic year, with three criteria. Student-athletes who opt out prior to competition this academic year will retain the use of that season. College athletes who opt out after participating in competition will still be eligible for the season-of-competition wavier if the three criteria are met.
The Division II Presidents Council also approved these legislative recommendations related to the Board of Governors’ directives:
- Schools would be prohibited from requiring student-athletes to waive their legal rights regarding COVID-19 as a condition of athletics participation. The Board of Governors noted a distinction between such a waiver and permissible items like a pledge document requiring student-athletes to abide by virus mitigation measures statements of personal commitment to health and safety.
- Permitting the following student-athletes who choose to not enroll for the 2020 fall term to use the missed term exception: A student-athlete in their first academic year in residence and a student-athlete who previously has used the missed term exception once during their collegiate enrollment.
- Before a student-athlete participates in a fall 2020 term competition, schools are required to:
- Provide information on the waivers and legislative changes approved by Division II for student-athletes due to the impact of COVID-19 (e.g., accommodations for student-athletes who opt out, season-of-competition waivers).
- Review the institution’s insurance coverage with student-athletes who plan to compete in the fall 2020 term and advise student-athletes to review their own existing coverage.
- Inform student-athletes of the risk classification of their sports according to the NCAA Resocialization of Sport: Developing Standards for Practice and Competition.
- Provide information about how the institution is complying with the NCAA Resocialization of Sport: Developing Standards for Practice and Competition.
Division III
Meanwhile, the Division III Administrative Committee has made a non-binding recommendation for member schools to not compete in the entire fall semester to avoid increased health and safety risks related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Much of Division III, including essentially all of the top swimming & diving programs, has already announced plans to not compete until after the fall semester, at the earliest.
“Any competition this term in the current environment will increase the health and safety risks of not only our student-athletes, but also coaches, staff and campus communities,” said Tori Murden McClure, chair of the Presidents Council and president at Spalding. “We also have concerns of the potential health care cost exposure for member institutions if a student-athlete contracts COVID-19 through athletically related activities. Today’s action will help ensure that member schools and student-athletes make an informed decision regarding these issues.”
The Administrative Committee also took action on two other relevant directives from the Board of Governors:
- The committee adopted noncontroversial legislation, effective immediately, that institutions may not require student-athletes to waive their legal rights regarding COVID-19 as a condition of participating in athletics.
- It also clarified that, for the 2020-21 academic year, all full-time enrolled student-athletes who opt out (that is, the student-athlete decides not to engage in any activity during or after the first contest) would get a two-semester/three-quarter extension.
Doesn’t this pretty much make Bowman’s idea null and void?
Not yet, because swimming is not a fall sport.
If this were extended to winter sports, it would certainly hit at the piece of the plan regarding the uncertainty and roster planning and “we have enough money to make it work.”
Just reaffirms Bowman’s decision was not about the student athletes.
Right now, the NCAA is still saying that making winter and spring sports happen this year is their priority, even over football.
So, we probably won’t learn more about what sort of relief swimmers will get until they change their tune on that. But, we do know that swimmers who don’t choose to swim will get an extension of their 5 year clock if they need it, like Grant House, for example, who redshirted last year and now is redshirting again (with the whole Arizona State team).
Is the fact that schools will be picking up these 5th year scholarships thought to be a factor in schools dropping programs like swimming? Many (if not all) of the schools that have dropped don’t seem to have math in the realm of reasonable to say those cuts really impact they’re stated short falls in a significant way (certainly not short term). So are the cuts more just about covering the bonus scholarships of 5th year’s in the interim and they’ll figure the rest out later (but probably won’t because there’s a football coach to buy out).
The positive side of it is that the actual cost of those extra years will come in the future, when football (and basketball) are playing again and revenue is rolling in the door. When that money is coming in, there’s more flexibility to trim expenses elsewhere and close some gaps.
No AD has said that, and they probably wouldn’t, though, to answer your question directly.