Tenth Circuit Hears Arguments In Challenge To NCAA's "Five-for-Five" Eligibility Rule

This morning, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit heard oral argument concerning an injunction issued in a Colorado federal class action. 

The injunction requires the NCAA to allow student-athletes in the 2022 freshman class a fifth year of eligibility, consistent with the NCAA’s new eligibility rule for students entering college in 2023 or later. The NCAA did not apply the new rule retroactively to student-athletes who completed college in May or June. Those student-athletes, who entered college in 2022, remained subject to the eligibility rules in effect at that time. 

Under the new rule, student-athletes who begin college in 2023 or later will have five seasons of eligibility within a five-year window — commonly called “Five for Five” — starting the year after they graduate from high school or turn 19, without regard to a redshirt year, injury, or another circumstance for which a waiver is currently available.

On August 21, 2026, the Tenth Circuit stayed the lower court’s injunction, preventing many fifth-year football players in the class action from playing in games this season.

During oral argument, the presiding judge asked counsel for the plaintiffs and the NCAA whether the Tenth Circuit should delay its decision until it could determine whether Congress would pass the Protect College Sports Act, including its eligibility provisions. The NCAA’s attorney responded that many student-athletes and other courts are awaiting the Tenth Circuit’s decision concerning the stayed injunction and asked the court to rule without regard to possible future congressional action.