By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
The NCAA picked up a significant legal victory on Friday as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit stayed a sweeping federal injunction that had granted thousands of athletes from the 2022 recruiting class another season of NCAA eligibility.
The stay pauses Judge Charlotte Sweeney‘s ruling in the Wisne v. NCAA case while the NCAA appeals, putting members of the high school class of 2022 who had planned to use a fifth year of eligibility in 2026-27 in limbo just weeks before the start of the season.
BREAKING: The Tenth Circuit has GRANTED the NCAA’s stay request in Wisne v. NCAA.
Judge Sweeney’s nationwide injunction is now stayed pending appeal, meaning qualifying Class of 2022 athletes lose its federal fifth-season protection for now. pic.twitter.com/i3ASE2TmHi
— Austin Massey (@austinmasseySBI) August 21, 2026
The NCAA’s new age-based eligibility, which implements a five-in-five model, came into effect on August 1, but members of the class of 2022 were essentially caught in between the old system (four years of eligibility over five seasons) and the new one.
Despite the NCAA’s efforts to make it clear that members of the class of 2022 would not benefit from the new rules, Judge Sweeney’s ruling at the end of July gave members an additional year of eligibility. A few days later, she clarified the ruling, distinguishing that only qualifying member of the class would gain an extra year, and student-athletes were still subject to other rules, such as transfer restrictions.
The NCAA issued a statement on Friday outlining that the ruling means any athlete who was granted eligibility from the Wisne injunction is now ineligible.
NCAA statement:
The Tenth Circuit’s decision to stay the preliminary injunction issued by a Colorado federal district court judge in Wisne permits Division I to return to the status quo before the district court intervened. Effective immediately, the age-based eligibility rules…
— NCAA News (@NCAA_PR) August 21, 2026
Full Statement:
The Tenth Circuit’s decision to stay the preliminary injunction issued by a Colorado federal district court judge in Wisne permits Division I to return to the status quo before the district court intervened. Effective immediately, the age-based eligibility rules will be implemented as the Division I membership intended.
Class members who were allowed to compete because of the Wisne injunction are no longer eligible to compete.
The Association will separately continue to defend other similar putative class action lawsuits and the state court cases that have been filed by former student-athletes seeking additional eligibility and expeditiously appeal any cases where former student-athletes have, or will, be granted additional eligibility through separate state court rulings. We are encouraged by the Ohio Court of Appeals’ decision to stay the first of those injunctions pending our appeal.
Institutions will not have violations for any class members who were allowed to compete consistent with the scope of the Wisne injunction prior to the stay being granted, and those former student-athletes are no longer eligible under the Wisne injunction. Staff will continue to process any hardship waivers or season of competition waivers submitted for a class member by the July 31, 2026, deadline.
While the Tenth Circuit’s decision puts the Wisne injunction on pause, there remains plenty of patchwork other courts have had to deal with regarding the fifth-year eligibility rule changes, as the NCAA noted.
A large group of more than 30 student-athletes, including 16 football players, sued the NCAA in Louisiana in an attempt to gain an additional year of eligibility, and they were recently granted a temporary restraining order allowing them to the enter the transfer portal for one week despite a few of them having signed professional contracts.
The Louisiana case is one of many state lawsuits regarding fifth-year eligibility.
According to Yahoo Sports‘ Ross Dellenger, there have been more than 150 athletes who have filed 18 eligibility lawsuits across 15 different states.
“In 11 of those cases, judges have ruled in favor of the players, either with a temporary restraining order or an injunction prohibiting the NCAA from enforcing its rules. Several others await a judge’s decision while several more are being appealed,” Dellenger wrote on Friday.
So while the stay order in the Wisne case (federal) means that as a whole, class of 2022 members aren’t eligible to compete in 2026-27 as of today, it does not necessarily mean every class member has lost the ability to return.
Athletes who have obtained separate temporary restraining orders or injunctions in other cases may still have a path to a fifth season, depending on which state court an athlete has gone to and what relief that court has granted.
For the time being, the NCAA has scored a legal victory in the Wisne case, but the bigger fight over class of 2022 eligibility rolls on. Though schools, coaches and student-athletes have already begun putting plans in place for 2026-27, it’s not fully clear who will be eligible to compete from this particular class.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: NCAA Wins Court Battle, But Fifth-Year Eligibility Fight For Class of 2022 Is Far From Over
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