The NCAA is considering changes to eligibility rules that could affect redshirting rules and changes to the NCAA Tournament.
According to Yahoo Sports, an NCAA committee is considering making eligibility age based and reducing the use of waivers. Ross Dellenger, a college sports insider for the website, reports the new proposal would give NCAA student-athletes five full years of eligibility from either their high school graduation or their 19th birthday — whichever comes first. The change would also mean no waiver requests, redshirts or exceptions of any kind, except for those on maternity leave, military service or religious missions.
It is a swift change: NCAA athletes can play four seasons over the course of a five-year calendar; through a waiver or redshirt (when an athlete does not compete for a year), players can be granted an extra year of eligibility. There is no timetable in place, making it possible that athletes who have competed professionally or stepped away from a sport for other reasons can compete well into their 20s.
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The new proposal predates President Donald Trump’s April 4 executive order, which would effectively limit athlete transfer movement, cap player eligibility, implement funding requirements for women and Olympic sports and prohibit NIL collectives, according to the Associated Press.
Implementation for the new rules could go in effect for the 2026 school year because it is deemed an “urgent matter,” per Yahoo’s report Wednesday. But the NCAA Division I Cabinet will meet next week to discuss matters regarding the policy.
Jun 10, 2025; Eugene, OR, USA; A NCAA logo flag at the NCAA Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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Athletes fighting back — in court
It is not uncommon for players to medically redshirt, but those redshirts are granted on a case-by-case basis. The denial of an athlete’s waiver request could lead to court proceedings. And with each state having its own judiciary, there is inconsistencies in how judges could rule.
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A Mississippi judge granted Trinidad Chambliss another year to return to Ole Miss this offseason, but a judge in Tennessee denied a request from Volunteers quarterback Joey Aguilar just weeks later. Chambliss has been in college for five seasons, but injuries derailed two of those. He redshirted his first season at Ferris State in 2021 and did not play in 2022 due to medical reasons. Aguilar started his first two years at a community college before playing two years at Appalachian State and one year at Tennessee. His attorney’s argued that his time at a community college doesn’t count towards the four years of Division 1 football. Texas A&M basketball player Rashaun Agee was granted a temporary order to play for the Aggies this season after some impassioned pleading by head coach Bucky McMillan. That judge even spoke to the tenuous nature of rulings.
“This might be a different result later, but today I’m approving,” the judge said, according to KBTX reporter Travis Brown, who was present when the verdict was announced.
NCAA President Charlie Baker during Legacy Project Dedication Day at the 2026 Men’s Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium on April 2, 2026 in Indianapolis.
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In the last school year, the NCAA received 1,450 waiver requests to extend eligibility and most waiver requests were granted, according to Yahoo Sports. However, of the nearly 500 that were denied, more than 70 sued the NCAA.
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“The phone calls I get from coaches and ADs are pretty consistent: ‘I don’t like it when what judge ends up in front of and what state they’re in determines whether somebody gets to play another year. That’s not fair,’” NCAA president Charlie Baker said in January from the association’s convention. “I have a hard time arguing with that.”
Dellenger reports that the NCAA has spent $16 million on eligibility cases last year. “Despite the NCAA’s success in many of those cases — the association won two more cases last Friday — several of the suits are expected to go to trial.”
With athletes taking advantage of NIL and schools having to pay them directly in the wake of the House Settlement, staying in college longer could give players a greater incentive stick stay in the college ranks as long as possible.
The league minimum for an NFL rookie is $840,000 and for the NBA is $1.12 million. Texas quarterback Arch Manning, according to On3, has an NIL valuation of $5.4 million. CBS reported that former Duke standout Cooper Flagg made almost $30 million in NIL deals.
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More change on the horizon
Part of the love for the NCAA Tournament is how smaller schools such as High Point or Lehigh or Farleigh-Dickinson can upset Power Five schools. But for the second straight season, no midmajor programs not advanced to the Sweet 16. The Final Four teams came from the Big East (UConn), Big 12 (Arizona) and Big Ten (Illinois and eventual champion, Michigan).
March Madness is officially over but now come talks of the tournament expanding, according to Yahoo.
As it stands now, the bracket is 68 teams but expanding the tournament would increase the bracket to 76. The new eight at-large selections would likely largely come form the Big Ten, ACC, SEC, Big 12 and Big East.
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In the new format, eight games would be added to the First Four, Dellenger reported Thursday. Those games would be played the first week on the event, on Tuesday and Wednesday. Called the “opening round,” it would feature 24 teams competing at two sites (Dayton and another city yet to be determined).
In this March 14, 2012, file photo, a player runs across the NCAA logo during practice at the NCAA college basketball tournament in Pittsburgh. California will let college athletes hire agents and make money from endorsements, defying the NCAA and setting up a likely legal challenge that could reshape U.S. amateur sports. (KEITH SRAKOCIC/ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE]
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“Those involved in the negotiations caution that plenty of this could change through the course of continuing talks with TV partners Warner Bros. Discovery and CBS,” Dellenger wrote, alluding to the media rights contract that ends in about five years.
“The 12 winners of the opening-round games — likely six games pitting lower-seeded automatic qualifiers and six pitting at-large teams — advance to an awaiting 52 teams in the original bracket. Under this concept, eight teams are extracted from the main bracket, plus the eight new at-large selections from expansion.”
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Supporters of expansion point to record-breaking viewship for the year’s NCAA Tournament, despite a lack of upsets. Dellenger counted Baker and leaders of the Big 12 and ACC as the most fervent supporters. Those representing midmajors have some reservations, though.
“Is NCAA tournament expansion a way to appease power league executives ahead of any negotiations of a new men’s basketball tournament contract? Perhaps,” Dellenger wrote.
“This is the greatest three weeks on the planet,” said Big Sky commissioner Tom Wistrcill, a member of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee. “You can’t manufacture this. It’s the one thing that binds us all together. Is it disproportionate at times? Yes.
“But it’s our job to protect this event. There are pressures and the Power Four have shared that with us. We’re not putting our heads in the sand.”
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Dellenger indicated that expansion is not a matter of “if,” but “when.”
“Barring something unforeseen, ‘it will happen,’ says one high-placed source.”