NCAA Grants Eligibility Waiver for 2025-26

As the NCAA moves forward with its appeal of a Tennessee court’s injunction allowing Diego Pavia another year of eligibility, it has granted a waiver to athletes who would have used their last year of eligibility during the 2024-25 academic year.

The athletes will still be required to meet all other eligibility requirements. Since the Tennessee ruling applied only to Pavia, issuing the waiver serves as a stop-gap remedy for the NCAA to prevent dozens of new lawsuits from athletes in situations similar to Pavia's.

NCAA Considering 5-Year Eligibility Rule

According to @JonRothstein on X, the NCAA will be discussing adding a fifth year of eligibility over the next few months. Currently, athletes have four years plus a redshirt year to compete. Students can apply for additional years based on injuries or other reasons.

After granting a blanket waiver during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been relatively common for athletes to play five or more years. Cam McCormick, who started his college football career at Oregon in 2016, played his final season in 2024 for the Miami Hurricanes, and became the first athlete to have nine years of eligibility.

Moving to five years of eligibility might provide more stability as college sports try to navigate the changes from NIL, the House settlement, and numerous other legal challenges work their way through the system.

The other wildcard is Diego Pavia’s JUCO eligibility case. If the NCAA can no longer count non-NCAA competition toward their eligibility, athletes may have as many as seven years to compete.

Courts are Looking at College Sports very Differently

Judges across the country are ruling in favor of college athletes because college sports are rapidly being seen as a business activity rather than a path to a degree. The Pavia case is a great example. The discrepancy between NIL opportunities at levels below D1 sports is so big that it is unfair to count their time at these schools against them.

This perspective is shifting the value of college sports from academic to financial. There was little to no reference to completing a degree. The value of competing in D1 athletics has become how much money you can make and how much time do you have to make it. When looking at it this way, its not much of a leap to think the time athletes have to compete is going to get longer over time. The first step has already started, with the NCAA considering going to a five year eligibility model.

For schools, it’s a double-edged sword. The House settlement is constricting roster space for a lot of sports, and if players stay longer that will reduce the number of roster spots for incoming freshmen. It will even make the competition for five-star recruits greater than it is today. With the value of a roster spot skyrocketing, schools will not be able to bring in athletes to develop over time, they will be looking for them to contribute on day one.

On the upside, more time to play and make money may encourage top-tier athletes to stay longer. We’ve already seen in D1 Women’s Basketball that the NIL revenue for their top players is an incentive to use all their eligibility. Athletes will start to weigh their potential earnings at the next level against their earnings in college, and many may decide to stay.

No matter what the future holds, the challenge for any AD or coach going forward will be to meet the needs of the athlete, which is a big departure from traditional college programs.

Is it Better to go JUCO?

It might be a little early to start mapping this out, but depending on how things shake out over the next year, starting your college sports career in a junior college program may make a lot of sense.

The outcome of current litigation, as well as new rules being considered, it’s distinctly possible athletes may have as much as seven years to complete. If the NCAA cannot or does not count non-NCAA competition against your eligibility, and they move to a five year window, that adds up to seven years from high school graduation.

There are a lot of reasons to take advantage of this. Here are the top four:

1. NIL Income: Right now the frantic pace of NIL is based on a ridiculously small amount of time to build, launch and grow your brand, sign deals and make money. One of the biggest barriers to entry for athletes is the lack of infrastructure, whether it’s the school not having the ability to support NIL activities or the demands on the student’s time making it impossible. By starting in a junior college program, you can develop both your athletic skills and build your brand, learn and understand how to make money using NIL, and be prepared to maximize your time at a four-year school.

2. Academics: Not only is starting at a junior college less expensive, now it would also help you advance much further and pay substantially less. There is a lot of work going on to standardize credit transfers and support academic transitions to four-year schools, and now with a five-year window, it becomes realistic a student could complete a bachelor’s, master’s, and even a PhD during their seven-year window. Think about the long-term benefit of having a terminal degree, with a fraction of the loan debt, or even generating income while completing your studies.

3. Maturity: The long-term benefit of two extra years to mature and understand what is important for any student is incredibly valuable. Reducing the pressure to make life-altering decisions by giving them time to grow not only will help them be more successful as athletes, but as human beings as well.

4. Opportunity: With the changes happening at D1, there is going to be intense competition for roster spots. Junior college programs offer the opportunity to continue to compete in an environment where you are encouraged to look for a chance to compete at the next level.