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Anybody who has ever been a college sports fan has said to themselves at least once before, “wow, that guy feels like they’ve been in college forever.” That sentence has become even more common with the 2020-21 COVID year extending the careers of hundreds of college athletes.
But it soon may prove more true than anybody ever expected after a major court ruling on Wednesday evening. Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia won a case against the NCAA that granted him an additional year of eligibility on the grounds that he was unable to profit off of his NIL rights during two years spent at the Junior College level.
The case does not immediately means that all JuCo players have additional eligibility. But it does set the precedent for any JuCo player in the future who hopes to pursue legal action and extend their eligibility. Perhaps more damaging, it raises the question of whether the NCAA has any right to restrict eligibility based on time spent in college.
I think we’ll see this happen. The more college sports resembles pro sports, the harder it will be to restrain how long college athletes can play. So long as their school puts them in a full time degree program, there’s now a good legal argument they should remain NCAA eligible. https://t.co/lSjE9sFcMb
— Michael McCann (@McCannSportsLaw) December 19, 2024
College Sports Law Expert Says NCAA Could Lose Ability To Limit Eligbility
“The more college sports resembles pro sports, the harder it will be to restrain how long college athletes can play,” famed sports law expert Michael McCann tweeted. “So long as their school puts them in a full time degree program, there’s now a good legal argument they should remain NCAA eligible.”
In a world where college athletes have officially been deemed athletes by the National Labor Relations Board, they can argue that the NCAA has no right to restrict their income based on age or time spent in college. Athletes could argue, likely successfully, that so long as they are enrolled in school, they fit the definition of a college athlete.
The outcome has the potential to completely blow up the college sports world as we know. In theory, this all gets fixed either via congress or a collective bargaining agreement at some point. But if it does not, college sports may soon look nothing like what we all remember.