NCAA gets win in court on 5-year eligibility rule, but this is hardly the end of the lawsuits

Though it fell short of shutting down the last-minute shuffling threatening to upend college sports rosters with football season fast approaching, DENVER (AP) – The NCAA notched an significant win in federal court Friday over its much-disputed five-year eligibility rule.

What happened

In practice, a 2-1 decision by a panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals halted, for now, a judge's order that would have granted thousands of athletes an extra season of eligibility. But it did nothing to resolve dozens of other lawsuits and court orders piling up nationwide that allow players in the same situation to join teams for the upcoming season.

Virtually all these lawsuits involve players who graduated from high school in 2022, whose college eligibility concluded last season and who were not included in the NCAA's controversial new rule – less than two months old – that grants most Division I athletes five years of eligibility over five years but doesn't take effect until next season.

The bottom line

In short, NCAA gets win in court on 5-year eligibility rule, but this is is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.