NCAA athletes will be immediately eligible to play no matter how many times they transfer — as long as they meet academic requirements — after the association fast-tracked legislation Wednesday to fall in line with a recent court order.
The NCAA announced the Division I Council's decision becomes official Thursday when its meeting adjourns. The change still needs to be ratified by the DI Board next week, but that is expected.
The new rules will go into effect immediately, though in reality they have already been enacted through a lawsuit filed late last year.
Transfer windows, which are sport-specific, remain in place and require undergraduate athletes to enter their names into the portal at certain times to be immediately eligible at a new school. Graduate students can already transfer multiple times and enter the portal outside the windows while maintaining immediate eligibility.
A coalition of state attorneys general late last year sued the NCAA, challenging rules that forced athletes that wanted to transfer multiple-times as undergraduates to sit out a season with their new school.
A judge in West Virginia granted the plaintiffs a temporary injunction, lifting requirements for multiple-time transfers to request a waiver from the NCAA to be immediately eligible to compete.
The NCAA quickly requested the injunction be kept in place throughout the remaining school year to clear up any ambiguity for athletes and schools. The association has had to issue guidance to its members to clarify what that means for next season. Now the rules match the court ruling.
By eliminating the so-called year-in-residence for transfers, an athlete must be academically eligible at the previous school and not subject to any disciplinary suspension or dismissal to compete immediately at a new school. Transferring athletes must also meet progress-toward-degree requirements before competing.
“We hope that this practical approach to transfer eligibility requirements will encourage student-athletes to make well-informed decisions about transferring and the impacts such a move could have on their ability to graduate on time in their degree of choice, particularly as it relates to transferable credits,” Florida deputy athletic director and council chairwoman Lynda Tealer said in a statement.
The board will ask the committee on academics to explore creating a new metric — similar to the NCAA's Academic Progress Rating — that would hold schools accountable for graduating the transfers they accept.
The portal windows are currently open for both football and basketball, and the lifting of restrictions on multiple-time transfers has led to an uptick in athletes looking to switch schools.
In a notable move that would not have been permissible without a waiver under previous rules, Alabama offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor entered the portal in January after Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban retired, committed to Iowa, but then changed his mind during the spring and has reentered the portal with the intention to reenroll at Alabama.
The DI Council also moved forward on legislation that would allow schools to be more actively involved in securing sponsorship deals for their athletes. Schools could still not directly pay athletes, but they could facilitate NIL opportunities between third parties and athletes.
AP Sports Writer John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed to this report.
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FILE - South Carolina players work out during a practice at the Women's Final Four NCAA college college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 2, 2022, in Minneapolis. NCAA athletes will be immediately eligible to play no matter how many times they transfer — as long as they meet academic requirements — after the association fast-tracked legislation Wednesday, April 17, 2024, to fall in line with a recent court order. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
FILE - Wachovia Center operations manager Jim McDonald, left, and carpenter foreman Tim Allen remove the protective film covering the NCAA logo at mid-court on the center's basketball court, Wednesday, March 15, 2006, in Philadelphia. NCAA athletes will be immediately eligible to play no matter how many times they transfer — as long as they meet academic requirements — after the association fast-tracked legislation Wednesday, April 17, 2024, to fall in line with a recent court order. (Ed Hille/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, FIie)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel on Wednesday for meetings with Israeli leaders and told the country’s ceremonial president that “the time is now” for a cease-fire deal in the war in Gaza.
Blinken greeted the families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza who were protesting outside a meeting between him and Israel's president, telling them that setting their loved ones free was “at the heart of everything we’re trying to do.”
On his seventh visit since the latest war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October, Blinken is trying to advance a truce that would free hostages held by Gaza's Hamas militants in exchange for a halt to the fighting. Palestinian prisoners are also expected to be released as part of the deal.
On Oct. 7, militants launched an unprecedented raid into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting around 250 hostages. Israel says the militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
The Israel-Hamas war has flattened huge swaths of Gaza's north, and famine is imminent for the hundreds of thousands of civilians who remain there. Nearly seven months of Israeli bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and sparked a humanitarian catastrophe. On Tuesday, Blinken said that Israel plans on opening a major humanitarian aid crossing into hard-hit northern Gaza.
Currently:
— Blinken urges Israel and Hamas to move ahead with a cease-fire deal and says ‘the time is now’
— Netanyahu vows to invade Rafah ‘with or without a deal’ as cease-fire talks with Hamas continue.
— Police clear pro-Palestinian protesters from Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall.
— A Portuguese-flagged ship is hit far in Arabian Sea, raising concerns over Houthi rebel capabilities.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here's the latest:
TEL AVIV, Israel — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken greeted the families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza who were protesting outside a meeting he held earlier Wednesday with Israel’s president.
Blinken briefly greeted several dozen demonstrators calling for an immediate hostage release deal on the sidewalk outside a Tel Aviv hotel. Earlier, he had met the families of Americans held captive by Hamas.
Chanting “SOS, USA, only you can save the day” and “In Blinken we trust, bring them home to us,” the protestors urged Blinken to make their case to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his War Cabinet.
Blinken told them that setting their loved ones free was “at the heart of everything we’re trying to do.”
In its Oct. 7 raid, Hamas killed 1,200 people and took some 250 people captive. About 100 were freed in a November truce. Hamas and other militant groups still hold 100, as well as the remains of 30 more, according to Israeli authorities.
Blinken is in the region to try to push Israel and Hamas to agree to a cease-fire deal that might bring a pause to the nearly seven-month-long war and free some of the remaining hostages. An emerging deal would see the release of 33 hostages in a first phase lasting six weeks, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
CAIRO — The Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday the bodies of 33 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to local hospitals over the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 57 wounded, it said in its daily report.
That brings the overall Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war to at least 34,568, the ministry said, and 77,765 wounded.
The Health Ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its tallies, but says that women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.
The Israeli military says it has killed 13,000 militants, without providing evidence to back up the claim.
CAIRO, Egypt — Hamas has asked Egyptian and Qatari mediators to provide clarity on the terms of the latest cease-fire proposal being discussed as part of negotiations with Israel, an Egyptian official said Wednesday.
The official, who has close ties to the talks and spoke on condition of anonymity in order to freely discuss the deal, said Hamas wants clear terms for the unconditional return of displaced people to the north of Gaza and to ensure that the second stage of the deal will include discussing the gradual and complete withdrawal of all Israeli troops from the entire Gaza Strip.
The official said the current deal didn’t fully explain who would be allowed to return north and how it would be decided.
It was not clear if Hamas’ demand for clarity would delay progress on the deal that's emerging out of some of the first serious rounds of talks between the sides in months. Israel and Hamas have been far apart on the key issue of whether the war eventually ends as part of a later phase of the deal.
The emerging phased deal includes the release of 33 civilian and sick hostages held by militants in exchange for a halt to the fighting and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
AP writer Samy Magdy contributed to this report.
TEL AVIV, Israel — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was meeting with Israeli leaders on Wednesday, telling the country’s ceremonial president that “the time is now” for a cease-fire deal.
Blinken has blamed Hamas for any delay is getting a deal off the ground.
“We are determined to get a cease-fire that brings the hostages home and to get it now, and the only reason that that wouldn’t be achieved is because of Hamas,” he said.
Blinken visited key regional leaders in Saudi Arabia and Jordan before arriving to Israel. He met Israeli President Isaac Herzog and was set to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later. According to the State Department, he will meet also with families of the hostages as well as visit an Israeli port where aid is entering for shipment to Gaza.
The emerging deal between Israel and Hamas appears to be gaining steam but a key sticking point remains over whether the war will end as part of the agreement, a demand Hamas has stuck to and which Israel rejects.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, meets with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv, Israel Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
A woman holds a banner and shouts slogans with families and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza during a protest calling for their return, outside a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and families of hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, meets with the families and supporters of the hostages held by Hamas, outside of a hotel, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks with Prince Rashid, Head of the Board of Trustees for JHCO as they visit a storage with humanitarian aid bound for Gaza at the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization in Amman, Jordan, April 30, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
This image provided by Maxar Technologies, shows an April 29, 2024, aerial view of USNS Roy P. Benavidez and floating dock sections during construction of the U.S. military's floating dock that is being assembled offshore of Gaza. The dock and floating pier will be part of the Joint Logistics Over the Shore (JLOTS) system that will help deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza,. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog meet in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP)
A woman sits outside an encampment area on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Milwaukee. The Pro-Palestinian rally is calling for the University to cut ties with Israel and for peace in Gaza. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
A student wrapped in and Israeli flag listens to Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on campus at the University of Texas at Austin, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
A woman wears a keffiyeh, left, while setting up a tent at an encampment of tents on the campus of Tufts University, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Medford, Mass. Tufts University students set up the encampment as part of a protest against the war in Gaza. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Ami Aviv mother of Israeli reserve soldier Master sergeant Ido Aviv kisses his casket during his funeral in Carmiel, northern Israel, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Aviv, 28, was killed during Israel's ground operation in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army has been battling Palestinian militants in the war ignited by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack into Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits a storage unit with humanitarian aid bound for Gaza at the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization in Amman, Jordan, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)
In this image provided by the U.S. Army, soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary) and sailors attached to the MV Roy P. Benavidez assemble the Roll-On, Roll-Off Distribution Facility (RRDF), or floating pier, off the shore of Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea on April 26, 2024. The pier is part of the Army's Joint Logistics Over The Shore (JLOTS) system which provides critical bridging and water access capabilities. (U.S. Army via AP)
Students from the Lebanese American University (LAU) burn a picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a protest inside their university campus to demand a ceasefire and show support for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Scores of students held pro-Palestinian protests at some of the largest universities in Beirut Tuesday expressing anger over the rising deaths during the Israel-Hamas war. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
