| NEWS Will the SEC change intraconference transfer bylaw? Greg Sankey sets timeline for review- Knox News

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SEC athletes should know by June whether they can transfer from one conference institution to another and have immediate eligibility without needing a waiver.

The NCAA Division I Council voted on April 14 to allow first-time transferring athletes in all sports to have have immediate eligibility at their new institution. Previously, undergraduate transfers in football, men's and women's basketball, baseball and hockey needed a waiver to avoid sitting out a season.

But some conferences, including the SEC, have bylaws that require athletes who transfer within the conference to sit out a season unless they receive a waiver. Already this year, the ACC and Mid-American Conference nixed their bylaws that required intraconference transfers to sit out.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said during an interview with the USA TODAY Network that his conference's university leaders will review the bylaw in the coming weeks.

"We have established the expectation for a review," Sankey said. "Right now, my personal feelings don’t matter. It’s up to our membership to make a determination. My personal view is, our membership needs to engage in this review and make a decision about how transfers within this conference will be managed moving forward.”

Changing the bylaw would require a majority vote by the conference's 14 presidents and chancellors.

Asked about the timeline, Sankey said it would be done "in as timely of manner possible – prior to next academic year.”

“I would look into late May or June," he added.

The SEC's intraconference transfer bylaw came into the spotlight last fall, when three intraconference football transfers needed waivers from both the NCAA and SEC to gain eligibility to play during the 2020 season.

Conference presidents and chancellors voted in September for Sankey to issue blanket waivers for intraconference transfers for 2020. Sankey did so, but he said in a statement then that he wanted university leaders to review the bylaw and decide what they wanted the future of it to be, ahead of the next academic year.

Typically, bylaw changes are considered at the annual SEC spring meetings in late May in Destin, Florida.

The spring meetings will not occur in person this year and will be replaced by a series of smaller in-person and virtual meetings.
 
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