NCAA agreement to allow multi-transfer winter, spring athletes to compete immediately

A temporary restraining order against the NCAA regarding rules for transfer athletes is being converted to a preliminary injunction and will last until the end of the spring sports period, pending court approval, the NCAA said Friday. If approved by a federal judge, multi-time transfer athletes in winter and spring sports will be able to play without reprisal.

On Wednesday, a federal judge in West Virginia granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) that allows immediate eligibility to college athletes who are currently forced to sit out game competition under the NCAA’s multi-time transfer year in residence requirements.

The NCAA said Thursday that those athletes participating in games during the 14-day TRO period would lose a season of eligibility if the ruling was reversed. However, with the NCAA agreeing to terms Friday with the states that issued the original complaint, there will be no eligibility concerns for those athletes through the academic year and it will allow all multi-time transfers in winter and spring sports to play the full or rest of the season, if approved.

The NCAA said it was “the best outcome for multiple-time transfer student-athletes wishing to compete immediately.”

“This action provides clarity for student-athletes and member schools for the remainder of the academic year — any multiple-time transfer student-athlete who competes this season will be subject to the same eligibility and use of a season of competition rules as all other student-athletes,” the NCAA said in a statement Friday.

A hearing was to be held on Dec. 27 regarding a decision on issuing a preliminary injunction, but the NCAA’s agreement will likely result in the dismissal of that hearing, although official changes to the docket will have to be signed off on by the judge, and may not be formalized until Monday.

Judge John Preston Bailey ruled on the State of Ohio et al v. National Collegiate Athletic Association complaint, which was filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the northern district of West Virginia, Clarksburg division. The suit argues that the NCAA’s rule requiring multi-time transfer athletes to sit out a year in residence violates antitrust law.

By issuing a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the NCAA, Bailey had granted immediate eligibility to any athletes currently barred from participating in game competition regardless of whether they are pursuing a waiver for eligibility.

Also significant is that Judge Bailey, in addition to restricting the NCAA’s ability to enforce its multi-time transfer rule, also restricted the NCAA’s rule of restitution for the length of the TRO, meaning the NCAA could not penalize universities for playing any impacted athletes over the TRO period.

“I am granting and issuing a temporary restraining order for 14 days enjoining the NCAA from enforcing the transfer eligibility rule insofar as it requires a transfer to sit out for an academic year of residence, and the rule of restitution, NCAA bylaw 12.11.4.2, until a hearing on the preliminary injunction is heard on Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023, at 10 a.m,” Bailey said.

The complaint, led by Ohio attorney general Dave Yost, is joined by a coalition of attorneys general representing seven states: Ohio, Colorado, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. However, Judge Bailey’s decision extended to all NCAA athletes and was not limited to those in West Virginia or the other states in the coalition.

“At the hearing, we found out that 99 players had been denied a waiver, and 44 are currently in process waiting,” Yost wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday afternoon. “It’s reasonable to believe that 100 athletes or more could be impacted by today’s restraining order against the NCAA double transfer rule.”

Other NCAA transfer rules that were not addressed by the TRO and remain in effect:

– you can’t play for multiple schools in the same playing season
– you still have to be academically eligible to play

— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) December 13, 2023

Shortly after the announcement, the NCAA issued a statement saying they would grant multiple-time transfers immediate eligibility through Dec. 27 and would not punish them retroactively if the court order is later overturned.

“As a result of today’s decision impacting Division I student-athletes, the Association will not enforce the year in residency requirement for multiple-time transfers and will begin notifying member schools,” the statement said.

On Thursday, the NCAA sent out guidance to member schools that reiterated that athletes who were eligible to play during the 14-day TRO would still be subject to NCAA rules regarding redshirting. Basketball players burn their redshirts as soon as they play in one game, so if a multiple-time transfer player were to participate in games before that Dec. 27 hearing and the court order is reversed, he or she would still have burned a redshirt and lost a year of eligibility.

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(Photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)