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The NCAA Division I board on Thursday doubled down on the new age-based eligibility rule that has prompted some athletes to go to court in hopes of extending their college careers.
The Division I Cabinet, which approved the new rule last month, issued a similar statement last month after a group of basketball players filed a lawsuit in an Ohio court that claims the age-based model unfairly shuts them out of further competition. Several lawsuits have been filed across the country since, some of them allegedly with the encouragement of their coaches.
The board’s statement indicates it will not budge from its stance, as it did when, in response to former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia’s 2024 track victory, it granted an extra year to athletes who had competed at non-NCAA schools for at least one season and were set to complete their eligibility.
“We are encouraged by the broad support of the Division I membership for the age-based eligibility rules,” the board said Thursday. “The design of the new rules, including its implementation strategy, was thoughtful and well-informed and was unanimously supported by the cabinet, including its student-athlete members.
(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
The age-based eligibility rule allows athletes five seasons of competition over a five-year period beginning with their full-time enrollment or the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first. The move nearly eliminates waivers or redshirt years for extended eligibility except for religious missions, pregnancy or active military service. Extensions will no longer be considered for athletes who are injured.
Athletes whose eligibility expired in the spring of 2026 under the traditional model — four years of competition over five years — will not be allowed a fifth year of competition under the new rules, which take effect this fall.
That was the impetus for the first lawsuit in Ohio. A judge granted an interim injunction allowing the players to enter the transfer portal and the case will now go to court. Athletes in other cases across the country have also won preliminary injunctions.
Earlier this week, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said the conference ended up supporting the rule despite some executives’ concerns about its timing. Sankey said there was some thought that the Protect College Sports Act, currently circulating in the Senate, could solve the problem. He also said the conference was not presented with data to justify the change.
“We got on a fast track in this environment because … people are looking for solutions,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It doesn’t mean there are solutions, but it’s just, ‘Oh, what we’re doing isn’t working. There are so many waivers, there’s so much controversy about eligibility, this has to be better.’ But we’re not sure if it is.”
Report from the Associated Press.
