![\"NCAA](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/90da9742-e774-4b11-9db4-ccf4269b11c3.jpeg\"\/)
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NCAA president Charlie Baker (left) sits next to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) during a roundtable discussion about the future of college sports at White House on March 6, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
(BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
For months now, conference executives and school administrators have urged NCAA officials to find a solution for what\u2019s evolved into one of college athletics\u2019 most festering issues.<\/p>\n
The NCAA is fighting dozens of lawsuits from athletes seeking extended eligibility, some of which their own member schools support. Differing rulings from federal and local judges have left in their wake a divided and frustrated membership. While the NCAA has won more than half of eligibility lawsuits in which a judge has issued a preliminary ruling, the new age-based standard is expected to provide a step toward avoiding future costly and burdensome legal challenges.<\/p>\n
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The proposed change is a dramatic move away from long-standing policy.<\/p>\n
Under current NCAA rules, athletes are granted four playing seasons over a five-year calendar, with the option to regain a season of eligibility through a redshirt or waiver request. While the new policy would grant athletes a fifth season of eligibility, the proposal sets a starting date of the five-year clock: age 19 or high school graduation.<\/p>\n
Most notably, as currently written, the proposal eliminates the ability for athletes to regain seasons of eligibility through redshirts (even for medical reasons) and waivers, which have complicated the eligibility system and resulted in many of the organization\u2019s legal entanglements.<\/p>\n
Those having had their waiver requests denied have lawyered up in an effort to regain years of eligibility \u2014 some of them asking for a ninth season in college. The wave of lawsuits has left eligibility in the hands of various judges whose inconsistent rulings ushered into the industry a new kind of inequality.<\/p>\n
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For example, while a Mississippi judge extended the eligibility of Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss<\/a> in February, a Tennessee judge less than a month later denied a request from Vols quarterback Joey Aguilar<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe phone calls I get from coaches and ADs are pretty consistent: \u2018I don\u2019t 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\u2019s not fair,\u2019\u201d NCAA president Charlie Baker said in January from the NCAA convention. \u201cI have a hard time arguing with that.\u201d<\/p>\n But in an era when college athletes are legally compensated by schools, cash has incentivized players to seek longer college careers, many of them even delaying their NFL careers.<\/p>\n For instance, most of the seasoned power conference quarterback transfers this past cycle sought more than $4 million in annual compensation from their new teams. Some are believed to be making closer to $6 million. Because of the NFL\u2019s rookie salary structure, a player would need to be drafted in the top half of the first round to earn that kind of annual money in their first year.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n