A group of 15 college basketball players have filed a lawsuit in Ohio that alleges the NCAA's new aged-based eligibility framework is unfair to the high school class of 2022.
The lawsuit comes after the Division I Cabinet this week unanimously approved a sweeping overhaul of eligibility rules for student-athletes, permitting Division I student-athletes up to five years of eligibility if they enroll in college no later than the academic year after their 19th birthday.
The association says new rule streamlines a significant portion of the Division I rule book by eliminating season-of-competition limits, sport-specific eligibility and redshirt rules, and eligibility extension waivers.
According to ESPN, the lawsuit filed Wednesday seeks temporary and permanent injunctive relief that would allow a fifth year of competition for athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 and began their college sports careers that fall and never redshirted.
A judge denied a temporary restraining order hours after the lawsuit was filed and scheduled a hearing for next Wednesday on the request for a preliminary injunction.
The new eligibility rule "unjustifiably restrains their ability to earn money through use of their name, image, and likeness ('NIL') connected to their work as Division I athletes," wrote the attorneys representing the athletes.
ESPN reported that similar lawsuits are expected to be filed in other states.
The Division I cabinet said in a statement posted on X that it was aware of legal action challenging its decision and that "we do not intend to change course."
"Student-athletes who will exhaust their eligibility this year have received the full period of eligibility permitted by NCAA bylaws and the life-changing benefits college sports provides," the cabinet said. "Giving those student-athletes another season would destabilize rosters just ahead of the coming season by disrupting settled expectations of countless student-athletes regarding their expected roster spots and playing time next year, including incoming freshmen who are eager to participate in the life-changing experience of college athletics."
The plaintiffs are not challenging a defined eligibility period or the five-year rule itself.
"Rather, they challenge the NCAA's application of the rule that allows players they competed against from the high school class of 2017-20 and 2023-25 an additional year of competition while denying plaintiffs the same opportunity," the attorneys wrote. "The NCAA then compounded the problem by allowing former professional players to compete in their fifth year following high school graduation regardless of the number of professional games they had played, while denying plaintiffs the same opportunity for a fifth year of competition."
