Friday’s Tenth Circuit stay blocks 2022-class athletes from using Judge Charlotte Sweeney’s blanket waiver while the NCAA pursues its appeal, interrupting a broad path back to competition just before the season.
That waiver had covered athletes with one year of eligibility left after the NCAA declined to extend its newer five-for-five eligibility framework to the 2022 class.
Lower courts have still been granting athletes relief case by case, including a Louisiana TRO this week that let some plaintiffs return from NFL camps if they act before a Sept. 1 deadline.
The NCAA called those rulings destabilizing for college sports, but the stay is expected to push more athletes into state-court lawsuits rather than end the broader eligibility fight.