Ohio lawsuit – Fifteen college basketball players in Ohio filed a lawsuit in Cincinnati challenging a new NCAA Division I eligibility rule that bars most athletes whose eligibility expires by spring 2026 from receiving a fifth season. The case argues the age-based model bloc
By the time the NCAA Division I Cabinet approved its sweeping new eligibility model, the change had already begun to land on the same group of athletes like a countdown.
Less than 24 hours after the Cabinet approved the update, a group of 15 college basketball players filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Cincinnati, Ohio—asking a court to stop the rule and allow what they describe as a fair shot at a fifth season of competition.
The new NCAA policy. effective this fall. 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 comes first. Under the model. waivers and redshirt years for extended eligibility are set to be all but eliminated. with limited exceptions for religious missions. pregnancy. or active-duty military service. Injuries will no longer be grounds for extensions.
For a particular cohort, the consequences are immediate. 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.
The lawsuit. filed in Hamilton County. sought temporary and permanent injunctive relief that would allow a fifth season for athletes who graduated from high school in 2022. began their college careers that fall. and never redshirted. A judge denied a temporary restraining order just hours after the complaint was filed. The court scheduled a hearing for next Wednesday on the players’ request for a preliminary injunction.
In the complaint, attorneys Ryan Downton and Charles Rittgers argued 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.”
Nine of the plaintiffs have played or planned to play next season at Ohio schools, and the rest, according to the complaint, have played multiple games in the state.
The lawsuit also takes aim at the NCAA’s consistency. The complaint says class of 2022 athletes competed for playing time against older athletes whose eligibility had been extended because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It further states that the NCAA allowed 2022 high school graduates to play a full professional season before enrolling in 2023. and that those players are not excluded from playing in 2026-27.
“NCAA athletes have a reasonable expectation that they will be treated fairly by the NCAA and that NCAA rules will be applied consistently. regardless of the athlete’s background before they attend an NCAA school and regardless of the year in which they graduated from high school. ” the complaint says.
The plaintiffs do not challenge the underlying concept of a defined eligibility period or the five-for-five rule itself. Instead, their complaint argues the conflict is in how the rule is applied.
“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.”.
The NCAA did not immediately respond, though a message seeking comment was left with an NCAA spokesperson.
Similar lawsuits are expected to be filed in other states. a reflection of how quickly eligibility rules—and their knock-on effects for careers and earnings—can turn into courtroom fights. For the players in this case. the timing is the point: the court’s next step. coming at the scheduled hearing next Wednesday. may determine whether their fifth season remains a possibility—or becomes just another missed year they say they were denied.
NCAA Ohio lawsuit eligibility rules five-for-five Division I college basketball injunction NIL Cincinnati Hamilton County