NCAA unlikely to grant extra eligibility for winter sports athletes

According to a report from Jon Rothstein, winter sports athletes will likely not be granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA.

Due to safety and public health concerns regarding COVID-19, the men’s college basketball season was called off in the middle of conference tournament play. The 2020 NCAA Tournament was set to start this week for both men’s and women’s basketball.

Obviously, this goes beyond basketball; late last week, the NCAA pulled the plug on all of its winter and spring championships, The NCAA classifies the following as winter sports: basketball, wrestling (m), hockey, rifle, bowling (w), gymnastics, skiing, fencing, swimming and diving and indoor track and field.

However, as Rothstein notes, athletes that participate in spring sports — in the early stages at the time of the decision — could still potentially received another year of eligbility.