NCAA Makes Major Eligibility Announcement to Avoid Another Diego Pavia-Esque Legal Battle

College football has just gotten a new rule that would see the NCAA spend less on legal fees. After spending $16M in legal fees last year,  the NCAA’s new eligibility rule looks to eliminate most of the previous conditions for the extension of eligibility. With this, legal cases, like Diego Pavia’s, will have nothing on the association moving forward.

The Division I Cabinet has approved a new eligibility rule that will now allow athletes to have five seasons of competition over five years, as opposed to the old system, where athletes had five years to complete four seasons of competition. The rule, which was approved on Tuesday, will take effect this fall. It followed President Trump’s executive order for the formation of a better eligibility rule.

The NCAA has been made to look more incompetent lately, having been at the receiving end of legal actions from college athletes. One of the most persistent issues that has caused the NCAA numerous legal battles is the issue of eligibility. Per Yahoo Sports, last academic year, the association received 1,450 waiver requests. Despite granting two-thirds of those, it faced more than 70 lawsuits from those not granted (around 500). The frequency of these lawsuits and others resulted in the NCAA spending over $16 million last year.

But with the new rule, the lawsuits are likely to decrease. A Sports law attorney, attorney Mit Winter, admitted this, per Fox Sports. “It might be a little easier to defend than the current rules we have,” Winter said when the rule was proposed in April. “But when you just look at it from a broad point of view, it’s still essentially limiting how long someone can work as a college athlete and be paid as a college athlete.”

The clock on five eligibility seasons starts at full-time enrollment or age 19. With the new rule, the idea of waivers or redshirt years for extended eligibility would be eradicated, except for religious missions, maternity leave, or active-duty military service. Aside from these, no other circumstance, not even injuries, will bring about an extension of eligibility for athletes.

While it is set to be effective from this fall, the new rule does not apply to all athletes. Athletes in the 2027 class are bound by this rule. For athletes with eligibility after the 2026 season and 2026 freshmen, they have the option of using either the previous eligibility rule or the new age-based system. Athletes whose eligibility should ordinarily end in 2026 are not able to enjoy the benefits of the new rule.

Programs with current athletes who may be eligible for waivers or extension of eligibility under the current rules have been urged by the D-I Cabinet to submit waiver requests to the NCAA on or before July 31.

The new rule is not setting the NCAA free from one legal battle they still have to fight. The NCAA faces trial in February against former Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia, a Heisman runner-up, over junior college eligibility counting, after he filed a lawsuit against the NCAA for counting the seasons spent at junior colleges against players’ Division I eligibility.

A judge ruled that the NCAA restored eligibility to players whose junior college years were counted only for the 2024-2025 season. As a result, players who have been held back by the rule in the 2025-2026 season are fighting back to receive the same treatment.

Football Government intervention in CFB

Player eligibility is one of the aspects that is set to be covered by the Protect College Sports Act. The bipartisan federal bill, championed by Senator Ted Cruz, is set to introduce new rules to college sports that will save college athletics from lawsuits.

The President’s order for the new rule stated that programs that play athletes against this new eligibility rule could risk losing their federal funding. It also touched on the NCAA making transfer rules and other policies that prevent programs from cutting opportunities for women’s and Olympic sports to pay athletes.

As for the PCSA, the legislation will also impose transfer limits on players, restricting them to just one transfer during their collegiate years. Ultimately, the NCAA would be granted a limited antitrust exemption that would keep it safe from court challenges.