An appeals court judge granted the NCAA a stay Friday morning in an order that reverses a federal judge's decision that would have opened the door for all all athletes who started college in the 2022-23 academic year and played for four consecutive seasons to return for a fifth season.
"The Tenth Circuit's decision to stay the preliminary injunction issued by a Colorado federal district court judge in Wisne permits Division I to return to the status quo before the district court intervened," wrote Scott Bearby, chief legal officer for the NCAA. "Effective immediately, the age-based eligibility rules will be implemented as the Division I membership intended."
While the stay was a win for the NCAA, it does not cancel the dozens of athletes who have successfully petitioned for restraining orders to play a fifth season in courts around the country.
Just last week a group of former college athletes, some who had signed with NFL teams this summer, were given the green light to return to college after being granted a restraining order by a Louisiana judge.
Ole Miss starters Dae'Quan Wright, Zxavian Harris and Wydett Williams are among the list of 30 athletes, from a variety of sports, who filed a lawsuit agains the NCAA in a Louisiana court on Wednesday.
In his letter, Bearby said that the NCAA plans to "expeditiously" fight against other legal rulings that have allowed similarly situated players back into college sports.
The NCAA changed its eligibility rules in June to allow athletes to play for five seasons within a five-year window, which begins when they enroll in college or in the academic year following their 19th birthday.
The previous eligibility rules allowed players to compete for four seasons during a five-year window without any specific age restriction.The D-I Board of Directors opted not to include outgoing seniors who player four years in college even though they would have been eligible for a fifth season under the new rules. NCAA officials said they did not want a sudden influx of returning fifth-year players to take roster spots from incoming freshmen, many of whom had already signed on to play for their teams by the time the rule was changed.
ESPN reported that Friday's decision is related to a federal lawsuit led by Northern Colorado basketball player Brock Wisne, who argued that the NCAA is violating antitrust law by preventing him from playing a fifth season. The Wisne case was the only eligibility lawsuit that was a class action case, which means that the judge's decision in his case applied to all athletes who had just completed their fourth season in the last four years. On July 31, a federal judge granted all athletes a blanket order that would allow them to play in the upcoming season. Friday's order overturns that ruling.
The Wisne decision will not impact athletes who have filed for restraining orders in other states.
