The N.C.A.A. Formally ratified The rule would give all transfer athletes immediate eligibility, regardless of whether they had transferred before, and would prevent the NCAA from disciplining athletes for transferring multiple times, as long as they meet academic requirements.

The rule has been effectively in place since December, when a federal judge issued an injunction barring the NCAA from stripping eligibility from multiple transfers.

The transfer portal window will remain in place and players won't be able to easily transfer at any time during the year, but the new rules will prevent a repeat of what happened in the winter of 2023 when a group of high-profile men's basketball players were denied eligibility and publicly petitioned the NCAA to let them play.

The NCAA also introduced rules allowing schools to themselves “identify NIL opportunities and facilitate transactions between student-athletes and third parties.” Previously, all NIL opportunities had to be coordinated through third-party entities without the school's involvement.

The change comes after Virginia passed a law earlier this month allowing schools in the state to pay players directly for their NIL rights. The NCAA's rule change is less permissive, but it's a step toward eliminating gray areas between institutions and athletic departments.

The NCAA's move comes after it lost a lawsuit filed in February by Tennessee and Virginia, in which the NCAA sought to punish the University of Tennessee for NIL violations, alleging that the school's policies were “anti-competitive and[d] “Federal Antitrust Law”

At the time of the ruling, University of Alabama Director of Athletics Greg Byrne said the NIL was definitely part of player recruitment efforts.

“It's a question that potential employees ask people around them whether they want it to be part of the recruiting process or not. That's why it's part of the recruiting process. You need to distance yourself from it. But if someone is asking you about it every day during the recruiting process, then it's part of the recruiting process,” Byrne said in late February.

The NIL and the transfer portal go hand in hand, and while neither seems like they’re going away anytime soon, one will come along with the other.

The NCAA has officially given up and accepted the fact that they can no longer stop what is going to happen.

Michael Browner is a senior sports analyst and contributor to Yellow Hammer News. You can follow him on Twitter. translation: