NCAA sues over DeWine’s executive order on college athlete eligibility

The NCAA has filed a lawsuit in federal court following Gov. Mike DeWine’s executive order to give some student-athletes a fifth year of eligibility and allow them to earn Name, Image and Likeness compensation.

In June, the NCAA adopted new rules that limit student-athletes to five years of eligibility to compete in college athletics. An athlete’s five years of eligibility starts the academic year after they turn 19 or when they first enroll full-time in college, whichever comes first.

Under the NCAA’s rules, student-athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 and competed for four seasons cannot compete in a fifth season. The governor’s order would grant those students a fifth year of eligibility.

Fox Sports reported that the Ohio Supreme Court said it would step in and determine the executive order’s legality. The NCAA lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, wants a federal judge to pause the governor’s order.

“If state courts – or governors – can unilaterally change the rules to give certain schools competitive advantages, it will become impossible for all schools to compete on a level playing field,” the NCAA said in a statement. “While we are confident our complaint will succeed in federal court, the answer to this state-by-state and court-by-court race to the bottom is the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act.”

The NCAA argues the order violates state law and “unlawfully burdens interstate commerce in violation of the Commerce Clause in the US Constitution by improperly conferring an advantage on Ohio in-state institutions.” It also said DeWine’s directive “violates the First Amendment by purporting to provide Ohio institutions with legal cover to maintain their NCAA membership while simultaneously flouting the NCAA’s rules.”