On Tuesday June 23, the NCAA approved one of the biggest changes to Division I eligibility rules in decades.
Beginning with athletes who enroll in Fall 2027, the NCAA will move away from its long-standing “four seasons in five years” model and instead, replace it with an age-based eligibility system which will allow more athletes to compete for up to five consecutive seasons within that five-year window.
The proposal was approved unanimously by the NCAA Division I Council Cabinet, and is designed to simplify an eligibility system that has become increasingly complicated following the years after COVID-19 waivers, vaccine/medical hardship requests and other legal challenges.
Eligibility will no longer be primarily based on seasons played, but instead, when a student athlete begins college or reaches the academic year directly following their 19th birthday.
Under the previous model, Division I athletes usually had five calendar years to compete in four seasons, with additional opportunities to preserve eligibility through redshirting, medical hardship waivers and several other sport-specific exceptions.
The new model will remove many of those provisions altogether.
Athletes who enroll in college no later than the academic year following their 19th birthday, will generally receive one continuous five-year period during which they may compete in as many as five seasons. The traditional methods of redshirts and many eligibility waiver processes like medical hardship extensions will now disappear under this new framework.
According to a statement released by the NCAA, the goal is to create a system that is easier for athletes, coaches and compliance departments to understand while also reducing the growing number of eligibility disputes reaching the courts.
The change comes after several years of unprecedented uncertainty surrounding athlete eligibility.
The COVID-19 pandemic granted athletes an additional year of competition, while lawsuits challenging NCAA eligibility rules became increasingly common. Some athletes have competed six, seven and even nine seasons after receiving combinations of injury waivers, redshirts and COVID exemptions.
Now, the NCAA believes the new system will eliminate much of that confusion by replacing dozens of eligibility calculations with one continuous eligibility period.
This new eligibility model could potentially influence every college athletics program.
Football coaches, for example, may no longer need to strategically preserve a player’s season through a traditional redshirt. Instead, they can focus on player development knowing athletes are eligible to compete throughout their five-year window.
Because eligibility now begins based partly on age, many prospects who delay college enrollment beyond the academic year after turning 19, could lose significant eligibility before ever even stepping foot onto a college campus. Junior or JUCO college transfers, international recruits and even athletes who take gap years could potentially face different recruiting considerations than they do today.
