Who Governs Collegiate Sports?

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) filed a federal lawsuit against Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on October 16, just days after he signed an executive order allowing athletes from the high school class of 2022 to compete for an additional season during the 2026-27 year.^[1] The order directs Ohio colleges and universities not to enforce NCAA eligibility restrictions against qualifying athletes who have already exhausted their four seasons of competition under the NCAA’s new eligibility rules.[2]

The NCAA’s New Eligibility Model
Historically, Division I athletes had four seasons of competition within five calendar years.^[3] In June 2026, however, the NCAA adopted a new age-based eligibility rule that eliminated the four-season restriction and would allow athletes to compete in five seasons of competition throughout a five-year eligibility period.^[4] Now, an athlete’s eligibility clock begins at their initial full-time collegiate enrollment or at the beginning of the academic year following their nineteenth birthday, whichever occurs first.[5] Importantly, the NCAA’s transition provisions exclude athletes who exhausted their eligibility under the previous rules by the end of the 2025–26 year.^[6]

As a result, athletes who retain additional eligibility may benefit from either the previous rules, or the new age-based model (whichever is more beneficial to the student athlete), allowing them up to five seasons of competition.^[7] However, athletes who exhausted their eligibility under the previous rules by the end of the 2025–26 academic year remain ineligible for an additional season. The dispute is illustrated by Borovicanin v. NCAA, in which a group of 24 student-athletes sought to be deemed eligible to participate in a fifth season of intercollegiate athletic competition.^[8]

Consider two student-athletes who graduated high school one year apart. The first graduated high school in 2022 and competed in four consecutive seasons through the 2025–26 academic year. The second graduated high school in 2023 and likewise competed in four consecutive seasons, concluding in 2026–27. Despite their nearly identical collegiate careers, the NCAA’s transition provisions render the first athlete ineligible for a fifth season because he exhausted his eligibility before the new framework took effect.

Governor DeWine’s Executive Order
Governor DeWine’s executive order seeks to address this disparity by permitting Ohio institutions to disregard the NCAA’s restrictions against otherwise qualifying athletes from the high school Class of 2022.[9] The order applies to both public and private universities, and DeWine justified the measure as necessary to ensure that Ohio athletes receive the same opportunities as athletes in other states who have obtained judicial relief from the NCAA’s eligibility restrictions.[10]

“When the rules change, fairness has to remain part of the equation,” said Governor DeWine. “We want Ohio’s student-athletes to have the same opportunity as student-athletes in other states.”

DeWine contents that NCAA’s transition policy unfairly excludes the high school class of 2022 from the benefits of its newly adopted eligibility framework. He also points to the inconsistent judicial treatment of similarly situated athletes across the country, as shown by cases such as Pearce v. NCAA and Lorient v. NCAA, in which courts in New York and West Virginia granted preliminary injunctions allowing certain athletes to compete for a fifth season. By contrast, the Ohio First District Court of Appeals reversed a similar injunction in Borovicanin v. NCAA. Through his executive order, DeWine seeks to effectively “correct” the consequences of the Ohio court’s decision.

What’s Next?
The NCAA and President Charlie Baker responded to the executive order by filing a federal lawsuit against DeWine, alleging that it unlawfully advantages Ohio institutions in interstate competition, infringes upon the NCAA’s First Amendment associational rights, and exceeds the governor’s authority.[11]

“The NCAA respects and honors the accomplishments of athletes whose eligibility expired in the 2025–26 academic year, and wishes them all the best in the future.  But allowing them to return for an unexpected fifth season of competition would give them a benefit they never reasonably could have expected, to the detriment of thousands of eligible student-athletes who have been waiting for their opportunity to compete.”

Ultimately, the dispute extends beyond the eligibility of the affected athletes, calling into question the NCAA’s authority to establish a consistent regulatory framework amid increasing intervention by state governments and courts.  The outcome may ultimately determine whether the NCAA can continue to govern collegiate athletics through a uniform set of national rules or remain subject to state-level challenges.

^[1] https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/50196596/ncaa-sues-ohio-gov-eligibility-order-5th-year-athletes.

[2] Id.

^[3] https://web3.ncaa.org/lsdbi/bylaw?refDate=20260720&ruleId=7481.

^[4] https://www.ncaa.org/news/division-i-adopts-age-based-eligibility-model/.

[5] Id.

^[6] Id.

^[7] Id.

^[8] Borovicanin v. Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n, 2026-Ohio-3885.

[9] https://governor.ohio.gov/media/news-and-media/governor-dewine-signs-executive-order-addressing-college-athlete-eligibility.

[10] Id.

[11] https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/ncaa/legal/NCAAvDeWineComplaint.pdf.