Report: NCAA considering historic change to amateurism rules, 5th year of eligibility in all sports

The NCAA is reportedly considering a historic change to its amateurism rules, thereby eliminating the national letter of intent and allowing a fifth year of eligibility, per Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger.

On3’s Pete Nakos previously reported about the evaluation of the National Letter of Intent. Now, it seems like everything is up for evaluation.

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This is expected to be a year-long comprehensive review of NCAA athlete-eligibility rules to relflect and operationalize the House settlement terms, per Dellenger.

A new signing model with the elimination of the NLI could be approved as soon as October, making this an era defining move for the NCAA.

“In one of the more notable potential changes, athletes in all sports could participate in up to a certain amount of contests during a sports season while still preserving their redshirt,” Dellenger wrote. “Such a policy is only currently permitted in football and wrestling. In football, for instance, a player can play in up to four regular season games and still preserve his redshirt season (the NCAA recently updated this rule to exempt all postseason competition from the four-game policy).”

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If the policy is changed, to reflect what football and wrestling already do, sport-specific NCAA committees will have to determine how many contests a player in each sport can participate in before burning a redshirt, per the report.

NCAA moving to historic new era? (Again)

But the NCAA’s other notable change is the elimination of the national letter of intent, the binding agreement between high school athlete and school.

“Other notable changes include what documents describe as a ‘new signing model’ with the elimination of the National Letter of Intent,” Dellenger wrote. “The “core benefits” of the National Letter of Intent will be incorporated into the institution’s athletics financial aid and scholarship agreements, according to the document.

“Similar recruiting rules tied to the National Letter of Intent will continue with the signing of school aid agreements. They end a prospect’s recruitment. For instance, all communication with the signed prospect and family members must end, and the prospects are prohibited from signing more than one aid agreement prior to enrollment.”

In the world of the transfer portal, things get a little interesting amid this new proposal, per Dellenger.

“As for transfers, those moving from a four-year college to another must enter the transfer portal to sign the written offer of athletics aid, according to documents,” Dellenger wrote. “Those signings cannot occur until the sport-specific windows have opened. The NCAA is in the process of considering an elimination of the spring transfer portal window in football.”

While the NCAA mulls over these propositions, college athletics could change drastically, again. Want to talk money? Listen to this among the rules under consideration:

“Permitting athletes who received payment exceeding their expenses for participation in an athletics event to retain their Division I eligibility,” Dellenger wrote. “Under current NCAA rules, athletes are precluded from accepting any form of payment or prize money for athletics participation beyond necessary expenses (e.g., meals, lodging, travel, etc.) without jeopardizing their eligibility.”