College athletes from the high school Class of 2022 were granted an additional year of NCAA eligibility on Friday thanks to a court ruling in Denver.
Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney of the U.S. District Court in Colorado issued a class-wide preliminary injunction affecting those athletes whose standard four years of college eligibility recently ended.
Sweeney wrote that the affected athletes are entitled to a fifth year, putting them on par with the prior class that got an extra year due to the COVID pandemic, and subsequent classes, which will get another year under the NCAA’s new regulations.
The “5-for-5 rule” gives student-athletes incoming for the 2026-27 school year five years of eligibility over a five-year span. Athletes from the high school Class of 2022 filed suit, asking that the change apply to them, too.
The judge agreed with the plaintiffs.
“They will suffer irreparable harm without issuance of an injunction,” Sweeney wrote in her decision. “And the balance of equities, as well as the public interest, favor them. They are entitled to the injunctive relief they seek.”
The ruling covers those “who began to play in collegiate sports in the 2022-2023 season, competed in NCAA Division I sports, and completed four years of eligibility as defined by the NCAA’s prior rules by the conclusion of the 2025-2026 season.”
NCAA president Charlie Baker reacted to Sweeney’s ruling by urging Congress to approve the Protect College Sports Act.
“Without targeted intervention from Congress, college sports cannot set nationwide rules everyone can play by and without Congress, failed professionals will continue to use college sports as a fallback option — robbing the next class of young athletes of college scholarships,” Baker wrote in a statement. “… Today’s rulings and the chaos they bring to college sports are exactly why it’s time to pass this bill.”
Also on Friday, a separate injunction was approved in Tennessee for college athletes including men’s basketball players Jalen Washington of Vanderbilt and AJ Storr of Ole Miss, giving them one more year of eligibility and permitting them to transfer.
A similar suit in Ohio earlier in July resulted in an injunction aiding 15 men’s basketball players.
–Field Level Media
