On Monday night, Colorado district court Judge Charlotte Sweeney denied the NCAA’s motion to stay the injunction that allowed all athletes who started college in 2022—but who had already completed four years of eligibility—a fifth year.
It’s the first loss for the NCAA in an appeal process to get the ruling, which made thousands of athletes potentially eligible overnight, overturned.
The case, first filed in July, resulted from the NCAA’s June decision to implement a new “age-based” eligibility policy. Players would now receive five years to complete up to five seasons of eligibility (rather than four seasons), starting on their 19th birthday or when they enrolled in college—whichever came first. But athletes began to challenge the rule because the NCAA said players who began college in 2022, but have completed four years of eligibility by the end of this past school year, would not be grandfathered into the fifth year policy.
Sweeney’s injunction, given that it was born from a proposed class action in federal court, applied to all eligible athletes across the country. However, at the NCAA’s request, she clarified that the NCAA’s other rules, including roster and revenue-sharing limits, professional eligibility restrictions, and the “ghost transfer rule,” still apply.
