Big Ten Proposes 1-Time Transfer Exemption for All Athletes

The Big Ten conference has taken a new step to ease restrictions on athletes, submitting a proposal in October that would allow players to transfer schools once without being forced to sit out a season.

According to Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports, the new rule would cover all sports and could take effect as soon as 2021.

"We have five sports that are not allowed to transfer in this day and age. That is something we need to fix," Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel told Dodd. "We need to give all young people flexibility to transfer once. If they transfer a second time, there is no waiver."

ESPN's Adam Rittenberg cited an unnamed Big Ten athletic director who supported the legislation.

"A majority of our folks are in for a one-time transfer," the AD told Rittenberg. "You have to adjust to the times that we're in and learn from what the history has shown us."

Per Dodd, the conference introduced the idea in October before the NCAA placed a moratorium on transfer-related proposals for the 2019-20 legislative calendar. Currently, only athletes in men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, hockey and football are required to sit for a season if they were to transfer. All other NCAA sports allow a one-time transfer with immediate eligibility.

If adopted, players in all sports would have a five-year window to take advantage of the one-time transfer without penalty. Under existing regulations, only graduate transfers are able to move to a new school without sitting out a season before playing.

"I think it's the right thing to do," Manuel said. "I don't know who's going to freak out and who's not going to freak out. That doesn't come into my thinking about it."

He added: "We want to force the question. Our take in the Big Ten—my take at Michigan—would be to vote for everybody getting a one-time transfer."

The NCAA created the transfer portal in 2018 and has seen it take off with enormous success for players who are looking to evaluate their opportunities as they move forward. LSU's Joe Burrow, Oklahoma's Jalen Hurts and Ohio State's Justin Fields all found situations where they could succeed via transfer.

The Big Ten's proposal would account for a big shift in NCAA policy as far as its amateurism requirements.