Over the past number of weeks, a plethora of lawsuits have been filed by athletes across the country who were part of the 2022 class that entered college that say the newly introduced rule by the NCAA infringes on their rights to make a living through NIL and have an additional year of eligibility.The arguments made in court centered on the idea that players who completed their fourth year of eligibility and would have been ineligible under the previous rule should have been grandfathered in because of how the entire process unfolded this summer.PRESIDENT TRUMP PUSHES LAWMAKERS ON LEGISLATION AS 'PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT' HANGS ON BY A THREADA general view of the NCAA logo on the building exterior of the National Collegiate Athletic Association National Office on June 19, 2025, in Indianapolis, Ind.(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)After exhausting their fourth and final season (under previous rule), their time in college would have been completed.This was essentially how lawyers were attacking the NCAA in a court of law, arguing that if the new five-and-five rule was being implemented, then athletes who exhausted their clock this past season under the old rule should be granted the same rights that players under the new guidelines would be entitled to.UConn head coach Dan Hurley speaks during a news conference ahead of the national semifinal NCAA college basketball tournament game against Illinois at the Final Four in Indianapolis on April 2, 2026.
(Abbie Parr/AP)Well, Judge Charlotte Sweeney of the U.S.District Court of Colorado has granted a preliminary injunction that is class-wide and orders the NCAA to create a blanket waiver that grants all athletes an additional year of eligibility for the upcoming year."All persons in the United States 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 sea...