The NCAA has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s executive order, which aims to give some student-athletes a fifth year of eligibility and allow them to earn compensation for their name, image and likeness.
In June, the NCAA adopted new rules giving student-athletes up to five years of eligibility. An athlete’s five years of eligibility begin the academic year after they turn 19 or when they first enroll full time in college, whichever comes first.
Under the NCAA’s rules, student-athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 and have already completed four seasons of competition cannot compete in a fifth season. The governor’s order would grant those students a fifth year of eligibility.
“If state courts – or governors – can unilaterally change the rules to give certain schools competitive advantages, it will become impossible for all schools to compete on a level playing field,” the NCAA said in a statement. “While we are confident our complaint will succeed in federal court, the answer to this state-by-state and court-by-court race to the bottom is the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act.”
The NCAA argues the order violates state law and “unlawfully burdens interstate commerce in violation of the Commerce Clause in the US Constitution by improperly conferring an advantage on Ohio in-state institutions.”
The association said DeWine’s directive “violates the First Amendment by purporting to provide Ohio institutions with legal cover to maintain their NCAA membership while simultaneously flouting the NCAA’s rules.”
The NCAA filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
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