As college athletes begin to capitalize on their newfound fifth year of eligibility granted through the injunction in the Wisne v. NCAA lawsuit, the NCAA is continuing to fight to overturn the ruling altogether.
On Tuesday, the NCAA notched its first procedural win in that appeals process. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals filed an expedited briefing schedule to consider whether to pause the injunction while it considers the appeal. That means players may find out sometime next week whether the newfound eligibility they received due to the injunction would be reversed—at least until the Tenth Circuit makes a final ruling.
“The Division I Cabinet, including its student-athlete members, carefully considered whether to make the age-based eligibility rule apply retroactively, and decided that doing so would not be in the best interest of all current and future college athletes,” NCAA Chief Legal Officer Scott Bearby said in a statement Tuesday. “We stand behind and will continue to fully defend the membership’s decision. The injunction should never have been granted, and we have asked the Tenth Circuit to permanently reverse it.”
The NCAA first established the new “age-based” eligibility policy in June. It stated that players would have five years to complete up to five seasons (rather than four seasons) starting on their 19th birthday or when they entered college, whichever came first. But the NCAA also decided that players who entered college in 2022 and had already completed four seasons of eligibility would not be granted a fifth year.
