NCAA Sues Ohio Governor Over Fifth-Year Eligibility Order

The NCAA sued Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine over an executive order concerning fifth-year eligibility, turning a dispute about athletes from the high-school class of 2022 into a court case. The lawsuit seeks to stop the order, which addresses eligibility for athletes covered by the NCAA’s rules. The two accounts differ on the timing and the order’s scope.

CBS Sports says DeWine signed the order three days before the NCAA filed suit and describes it as allowing Ohio universities to challenge the association’s eligibility ruling for fifth-year athletes. NBC Sports says the interval was two days and characterizes the order as granting members of the high-school class of 2022 a fifth year of eligibility.

The reports do not resolve that difference. Both accounts say the NCAA invoked the First Amendment and the Commerce Clause. CBS Sports reports that the filing argues the order gives Ohio institutions an improper advantage and places an unlawful burden on interstate commerce. It also says the NCAA contends that the order lets Ohio universities and schools bypass NCAA rules.

These are arguments made in the lawsuit, not findings by a court. NCAA president Charlie Baker said the organization was seeking injunctive and declaratory relief on three independent grounds, according to CBS Sports. NBC Sports describes the complaint as an effort to block DeWine’s order.

The reports give different lengths for the filings: CBS Sports calls it a 41-page filing, while NBC Sports describes a 38-page complaint. The dispute follows the NCAA’s decision to establish a five-year eligibility model for the high-school class of 2023, according to NBC Sports. That account says the class of 2022 was excluded from the model.

CBS Sports adds that athletes from the 2022 class had lost lawsuits seeking an additional eligibility year, leading to injunctions across multiple sports; it does not identify those cases or provide their outcomes in detail. The NCAA’s legal challenge therefore addresses both the scope of its eligibility rules and the reach of Ohio’s order.

CBS Sports reports that the filing also invokes the First Amendment, arguing that the order permits Ohio schools to circumvent association rules. The legal merits of those claims, and the order’s ultimate effect on affected athletes, remain for the court process to determine. Ohio Lt. Gov.

Jim Tressel told ESPN that current student-athletes should have opportunities comparable to those their peers received, according to CBS Sports. NBC Sports, meanwhile, argues in its account that the situation could have been avoided if the NCAA had extended the five-year rule to everyone within its scope rather than excluding the class of 2022.