Eager to lessen the chaos of the transfer portal era, the NCAA approved a new eligibility model for Division I athletes on Tuesday that will allow 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 Division I Cabinet approved the change from the longstanding tenet of college sports that gave athletes five years to complete four
seasons of competition with their eligibility clock starting at the time of enrollment, regardless of age.
The move will all but eliminate waivers or resdhirt years for extended eligibility except for religious missions, maternity leave or active-duty military service. No longer will extensions be considered for athletes who are injured.
The rules are set to take effect this fall. Division I includes more than 350 schools, some 200,000 athletes and, with football and basketball leading the way, is by far the most lucrative of the three in the NCAA.
The five-in-five language also is included in Senate legislation intended to address numerous concerns across college sports and comes after a wave of lawsuits from athletes seeking to extend their college careers and ability to earn money through revenue sharing and name, image and likeness deals. Still to be seen is whether the new rules will withstand legal scrutiny alongside the existing challenges.
Heisman Trophy runner-up and Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia remains the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging an NCAA rule counting seasons spent at junior colleges against players’ Division I eligibility time. That case is slated for trial in February.
“I wouldn’t say that the rule change itself will slow lawsuits down,” said Sam Ehrlich, a Boise State assistant professor of legal studies in business and management who tracks litigation against the NCAA.
Ehrlich said athletes very well could continue to petition courts for extended eligibility based on antitrust arguments, but appellate courts recently have delivered wins for the NCAA by overturning preliminary injunctions in several cases.
The new eligibility model will affect all athletes who enroll in 2027-28. Currently enrolled athletes with eligibility after the 2025-26 academic year, and those who are incoming freshmen this fall, can apply the age-based model or continue under previous eligibility rules.
For schools with current athletes who may be eligible for hardship waivers or extensions of eligibility under current rules, the D-I Cabinet indicated the deadline to submit requests to the NCAA is July 31. After that date, waivers would no longer be available.
Attorney Mit Winter, who specializes in sports law, has called the five-year proposal and age limit “a very sensible rule” in offering a “more black and white” evaluation to player eligibility, particularly for schools navigating a complicated waiver process determined on a case-by-case basis.
But with athletes still not being considered employees or having collective bargaining available to establish agreed-upon standards, Winter said, legal challenges are likely.
“It might be a little easier to defend than the current rules we have,” Winter said when the rule was proposed in April. “But when you just look at it from a broad point of view, it’s still essentially limiting how long someone can work as a college athlete and be paid as a college athlete.”
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