Ohio
Lawsuit alleges new NCAA rule unfairly denies high school Class of ’22 athletes a 5th season
Less than 24 hours after the NCAA Division I Cabinet approved a monumental change in eligibility rules, a group of 15 college basketball players filed a lawsuit in an Ohio state court claiming the new age-based model unfairly shuts them out of further competition.
The NCAA will now allow athletes five seasons of competition over a five-year period that begins with their full-time enrollment or the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first. The move will all but eliminate waivers or redshirt years for extended eligibility except for religious missions, pregnancy or active-duty military service. No longer will extensions be considered for athletes who are injured.
Athletes whose eligibility expired by spring 2026 under the traditional model — four years of competition over five years — will not be allowed a fifth year of competition under the new rules that go into effect this fall.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Cincinnati (Hamilton County) sought temporary and permanent injunctive relief that would allow a fifth year of competition for athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 and began their college sports careers that fall and never redshirted. A judge denied a temporary restraining order hours after the lawsuit was filed and scheduled a hearing for next Wednesday on the request for a preliminary injunction.
The new eligibility rule “unjustifiably restrains their ability to earn money through use of their name, image, and likeness (‘NIL’) connected to their work as Division I athletes,” attorneys Ryan Downton and Charles Rittgers wrote in the complaint.
Similar lawsuits are expected to be filed in other states.
The Division I Cabinet said in a statement posted on X that it was aware of legal action challenging its decision and that “we do not intend to change course.”
The Cabinet said while age-based eligibility was under consideration, the Division I Board of Directors made clear any rule change would apply going forward and not retroactively to athletes whose eligibility was completed by the spring of 2026.
“Student-athletes who will exhaust their eligibility this year have received the full period of eligibility permitted by NCAA bylaws and the life-changing benefits college sports provides,” the Cabinet said. “Giving those student-athletes another season would destabilize rosters just ahead of the coming season by disrupting settled expectations of countless student-athletes regarding their expected roster spots and playing time next year, including incoming freshmen who are eager to participate in the life-changing experience of college athletics.”
Nine of the plaintiffs in the Ohio case have played or planned to play next season at Ohio schools. The rest, according to the complaint, have played multiple games in the state.
The complaint said class of 2022 athletes competed for playing time against older athletes who had eligibility extended because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also noted the NCAA allowed 2022 high school graduates to play a full professional season before enrolling in 2023 and that they are not excluded from playing in 2026-27.
“NCAA athletes have a reasonable expectation that they will be treated fairly by the NCAA and that NCAA rules will be applied consistently, regardless of the athlete’s background before they attend an NCAA school and regardless of the year in which they graduated from high school,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit points out that the plaintiffs don’t challenge the concept of a defined eligibility period or the five-for-five rule itself.
“Rather, they challenge the NCAA’s application of the rule” that allows players they competed against from the high school class of 2017-20 and 2023-25 an additional year of competition while denying plaintiffs the same opportunity,” the attorneys wrote. “The NCAA then compounded the problem by allowing former professional players to compete in their fifth year following high school graduation regardless of the number of professional games they had played, while denying plaintiffs the same opportunity for a fifth year of competition.”
Florida
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ immigration detention center has closed, governor says
“Alligator Alcatraz,” the remote Florida immigration detention center that faced harsh criticism for its conditions, has shut down nearly a year after opening, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday.
DeSantis said the center at an isolated airstrip in the Everglades was always meant to be only temporary until more permanent detention centers could be secured and federal officials now have that capacity.
“It served its purpose for the time,” the Republican governor said at a news conference.
Officials announced a temporary closure of the facility earlier in June and sent all of the detainees to other facilities, saying hurricane season made it unsafe to keep them in the Everglades.
Immigration advocates said the tents were never safe or humane for holding people. Detainees at the facility have talked about their difficulty accessing lawyers and described poor physical conditions, including worms in the food, toilets that didn’t flush, floors flooded with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects everywhere.
The detention center was built by DeSantis’ administration in a matter of days and opened in July 2025. DeSantis and President Donald Trump said the detention center was critical to Republican efforts to return people in the country illegally back to their home countries.
“There is no question this mission has made the state of Florida safer,” said DeSantis, noting that 21,000 people were deported through the facility.
Lawyers for the immigrants at the facility said their clients suddenly started leaving for other facilities in South Florida, California, Arizona, Louisiana and Texas earlier this month, disappearing for about a week before their attorneys and families were told where they were sent.
Advocates for immigrants said closing “Alligator Alcatraz” does nothing to stop the harm of people who spend months in custody as their families suffer.
The Florida Immigrant Coalition said the only winners were corporations and contractors who profited millions of dollars as Republicans pushed an immigration emergency that does not exist.
DeSantis said the airstrip in the Everglades the facility was built around will continue to be used.
Lawsuit alleges new NCAA rule unfairly denies high school Class of ’22 athletes a 5th season
Less than 24 hours after the NCAA Division I Cabinet approved a monumental change in eligibility rules, a group of 15 college basketball players filed a lawsuit in an Ohio state court claiming the new age-based model unfairly shuts them out of further competition.
The NCAA will now allow athletes five seasons of competition over a five-year period that begins with their full-time enrollment or the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first. The move will all but eliminate waivers or redshirt years for extended eligibility except for religious missions, pregnancy or active-duty military service. No longer will extensions be considered for athletes who are injured.
Athletes whose eligibility expired by spring 2026 under the traditional model — four years of competition over five years — will not be allowed a fifth year of competition under the new rules that go into effect this fall.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Cincinnati (Hamilton County) sought temporary and permanent injunctive relief that would allow a fifth year of competition for athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 and began their college sports careers that fall and never redshirted. A judge denied a temporary restraining order hours after the lawsuit was filed and scheduled a hearing for next Wednesday on the request for a preliminary injunction.
The new eligibility rule “unjustifiably restrains their ability to earn money through use of their name, image, and likeness (‘NIL’) connected to their work as Division I athletes,” attorneys Ryan Downton and Charles Rittgers wrote in the complaint.
Similar lawsuits are expected to be filed in other states.
The Division I Cabinet said in a statement posted on X that it was aware of legal action challenging its decision and that “we do not intend to change course.”
The Cabinet said while age-based eligibility was under consideration, the Division I Board of Directors made clear any rule change would apply going forward and not retroactively to athletes whose eligibility was completed by the spring of 2026.
“Student-athletes who will exhaust their eligibility this year have received the full period of eligibility permitted by NCAA bylaws and the life-changing benefits college sports provides,” the Cabinet said. “Giving those student-athletes another season would destabilize rosters just ahead of the coming season by disrupting settled expectations of countless student-athletes regarding their expected roster spots and playing time next year, including incoming freshmen who are eager to participate in the life-changing experience of college athletics.”
Nine of the plaintiffs in the Ohio case have played or planned to play next season at Ohio schools. The rest, according to the complaint, have played multiple games in the state.
The complaint said class of 2022 athletes competed for playing time against older athletes who had eligibility extended because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also noted the NCAA allowed 2022 high school graduates to play a full professional season before enrolling in 2023 and that they are not excluded from playing in 2026-27.
“NCAA athletes have a reasonable expectation that they will be treated fairly by the NCAA and that NCAA rules will be applied consistently, regardless of the athlete’s background before they attend an NCAA school and regardless of the year in which they graduated from high school,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit points out that the plaintiffs don’t challenge the concept of a defined eligibility period or the five-for-five rule itself.
“Rather, they challenge the NCAA’s application of the rule” that allows players they competed against from the high school class of 2017-20 and 2023-25 an additional year of competition while denying plaintiffs the same opportunity,” the attorneys wrote. “The NCAA then compounded the problem by allowing former professional players to compete in their fifth year following high school graduation regardless of the number of professional games they had played, while denying plaintiffs the same opportunity for a fifth year of competition.”
Florida
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ immigration detention center has closed, governor says
“Alligator Alcatraz,” the remote Florida immigration detention center that faced harsh criticism for its conditions, has shut down nearly a year after opening, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday.
DeSantis said the center at an isolated airstrip in the Everglades was always meant to be only temporary until more permanent detention centers could be secured and federal officials now have that capacity.
“It served its purpose for the time,” the Republican governor said at a news conference.
Officials announced a temporary closure of the facility earlier in June and sent all of the detainees to other facilities, saying hurricane season made it unsafe to keep them in the Everglades.
Immigration advocates said the tents were never safe or humane for holding people. Detainees at the facility have talked about their difficulty accessing lawyers and described poor physical conditions, including worms in the food, toilets that didn’t flush, floors flooded with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects everywhere.
The detention center was built by DeSantis’ administration in a matter of days and opened in July 2025. DeSantis and President Donald Trump said the detention center was critical to Republican efforts to return people in the country illegally back to their home countries.
“There is no question this mission has made the state of Florida safer,” said DeSantis, noting that 21,000 people were deported through the facility.
Lawyers for the immigrants at the facility said their clients suddenly started leaving for other facilities in South Florida, California, Arizona, Louisiana and Texas earlier this month, disappearing for about a week before their attorneys and families were told where they were sent.
Advocates for immigrants said closing “Alligator Alcatraz” does nothing to stop the harm of people who spend months in custody as their families suffer.
The Florida Immigrant Coalition said the only winners were corporations and contractors who profited millions of dollars as Republicans pushed an immigration emergency that does not exist.
DeSantis said the airstrip in the Everglades the facility was built around will continue to be used.
