Football Players Who Sued NCAA Are Eligible to Play, Judge Says

A federal judge ordered the NCAA to immediately allow four football players at West Virginia University to compete in the 2025-2026 season, saying they presented some evidence that the sports organization’s eligibility rules harm competition.

“The Challenged Rules pigeonhole student-athletes into selecting NCAA schools where they may not be able to get on-field time in competition,” Judge John Preston Bailey of the US District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia said in an opinion Wednesday, granting a preliminary injunction against the NCAA. “Thus, based on the foregoing, the Court finds plaintiffs have shown a likelihood that the challenged restraints have a substantial anticompetitive effect in the labor market for college football.”

The ruling deals a blow to the NCAA, which has been flooded with antitrust complaints alleging its eligibility rules unlawfully reduce the number of years former junior college football players can play after transferring to a Division I school. Some courts have taken a different position—a divided panel on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit last month sided with the NCAA on its rules.

Plaintiffs Jimori Robinson, Jeffrey Weimer, Tye Edwards, and Justin Harrington sued the NCAA earlier this month, arguing the eligibility rules have a substantial anticompetitive effect on college sports and student-athletes.

At issue is the NCAA’s five-year rule that allows student-athletes to participate in four seasons of collegiate competition across five years of eligibility, including any time spent at non-NCAA junior colleges.

Robinson and other plaintiffs argue that counting their junior college time toward that five-year window is unfair.

The NCAA pushed back on Bailey’s decision, arguing it will make fewer roster spots available to incoming freshmen.

The ruling will “lead to high school students losing opportunities to compete in college athletics and it erodes the academic standards that have for decades ensured student-athletes obtained an education,” the NCAA said in a statement.

“The NCAA and its member schools are making changes to deliver more benefits to student-athletes, but the patchwork of state laws and differing court opinions are why partnering with Congress is essential to provide stability for all college athletes,” the NCAA said.

The NCAA has been lobbying Congress for a limited antitrust exemption that would help it stave off the eligibility suits.

The plaintiffs are represented Lewis Gianola PLLC. The NCAA is represented by Holland & Knight LLP and Bailey & Glasser LLP.

The case is Robinson v. NCAA, N.D. W.Va., No. 1:25-cv-00075, 8/20/25.