NCAA to Consider Vote on Age-Based Eligibility Rules in June

The NCAA is set to consider voting on new age-based eligibility rules at its June meeting, potentially allowing student-athletes up to five years of competition within their chosen sport beginning the academic year after they graduate from high school.

The potential changes come in the wake of more than 80 federal and state lawsuits brought by college-athletes who claim the NCAA’s current rules unfairly limit their ability to compete in college sports and earn money from their name, image and likeness.

If adopted, the new model would modify NCAA’s current rules that limit players’ participation in four seasons of collegiate competition across five years, tracking the period of time a student is expected to be actively pursuing a college degree. The new rules would also remove waivers available to extend eligibility, with exceptions for pregnancy, official religious missions, and active-duty military service.

NCAA’s Division-I cabinet met on May 22 to discuss the new model of eligibility rules that would give athletes five years to compete following their high school graduation or their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first. The organization decided to consider voting on the new rules at its June meeting.

The new age-based rules could apply to athletes expected to graduate from high school in 2026 and 2027.

The rules aren’t expected to apply to athletes who have sued, such as former Vanderbilt University linebacker Langston Patterson, who already missed the opportunity to compete for a fifth year.

Patterson last year filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the NCAA, claiming the organization unfairly limited him and others to competing in only four seasons of competition and restricting his ability to fully capitalize on NIL earnings.