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08/21 10:30 CDT Federal appeals court halts ruling allowing thousands of
college players extra year of eligibility
Federal appeals court halts ruling allowing thousands of college players extra
year of eligibility
By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer
DENVER (AP) --- A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily halted a court
order that would have granted thousands of athletes who left college after last
season an extra year of eligibility.
The lawsuit was filed by players who graduated high school in 2022, whose
college eligibility ended last season and who were not included in the NCAA's
controversial new rule that grants most players five years of eligibilty,
beginning next season.
After winning a ruling in district court last month, many of those players were
trying to figure out how to return to their former schools to play another
year. Football season opens over the next two weeks.
This 2-1 ruling from a panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in
Denver puts that on hold until the appeal can be heard in total. It could tamp
down the chaos from a series of rulings in courts around the country that had
cleared the way for players to come back.
A big portion of the case rests on the idea that some athletes were trying to
regain spots on rosters that had already been locked in. The plaintiffs argued
it was a matter of fairness: They shouldn't be restricted from a fifth year ---
and the educational and NIL compensation opportunities that go along with it
--- that a player one year younger was entitled to.
But, the NCAA countered in its legal filing, "fairness is in the eye of the
beholder."
"Countless student-athletes already on campuses, and schools who built their
rosters in reliance on the rules the NCAA's membership wrote and agreed to
follow, do not believe it is fair for thousands of formerly-ineligible athletes
to return to competition at the start of the 2026--27 season," it said.
