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07/23 17:08 CDT NCAA Division I board: No plans to change age-based eligibility
rule being challenged in court
NCAA Division I board: No plans to change age-based eligibility rule being
challenged in court
By ERIC OLSON
AP College Football Writer
The NCAA Division I Board of Directors doubled down Thursday 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 state court contending the age-based model unfairly shuts
them out of further competition. More lawsuits have been filed across the
country since, some of them reportedly with their coaches' encouragement.
The board statement indicates it won't budge from its stance like it did when,
in response to former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia's 2024 court win, it
granted an additional 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 Division I membership's broad support of 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.
"The Board has no plans to modify their application, notwithstanding a series
of lawsuits recently filed on behalf of student-athletes with no remaining
eligibility. We look forward to ensuring that the age-based eligibility rules
are enforced consistently so that all institutions play by the same rules, like
all participants in sports."
The age-based eligibility rule allows athletes five seasons of competition over
a five-year period that begins with their full-time enrollment or the academic
year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first. The move all but
eliminates waivers or redshirt years for extended eligibility except for
religious missions, pregnancy or active-duty military service. Extensions will
no longer be considered for athletes who are injured.
Athletes whose eligibility expired by spring 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 that go into effect this fall.
That was the impetus for the first lawsuit, in Ohio. A judge granted a
preliminary injunction that allowed the players to enter the transfer portal
and the case now heads to trial. Athletes in other cases across the country
also have won preliminary injunctions.
Earlier this week, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said the conference ended up
supporting the rule despite some leaders' misgivings about its timing. Sankey
said there was a thought that the Protect College Sports Act currently
circulating in the Senate could solve the problem. He also said the conference
wasn't 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. "That doesn't
mean there are solutions but it's just ?Oh, what we're doing isn't working.
There's so many waivers, there's so much controversy about eligibility, this
must be better.' But we're not sure if it is."
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AP National Writer Eddie Pells contributed to this report.
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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
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