(WHEELING, West Virginia) — Division I college athletes who had been sidelined by the NCAA’s Transfer Eligibility Rule are free to compete immediately after a federal judge today granted a 14-day restraining order to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and his counterparts in six other states as part of their antitrust lawsuit challenging the rule.
“Right now, you can’t make a player sit out a year,” Judge John Preston Bailey told the NCAA’s lawyers in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
The judge’s decision prevents the National Collegiate Athletic Association from enforcing the transfer rule at least until Dec. 27, when the judge will consider the states’ motion for a preliminary injunction to extend the order until a full trial can be held.
Yost, who is leading the seven-state coalition that filed the lawsuit last week, applauded the decision as “only fair and right.”
“Competition is good,” the Attorney General said. “Thank you, Judge Bailey, for recognizing that and allowing the kids to play.”
In addition to granting the temporary restraining order, the judge prohibited the NCAA from enforcing its Restitution Rule, which otherwise would have allowed the NCAA to punish athletes and their schools by taking away wins, statistics, and other benefits in retaliation for this action.
Under the NCAA rule, college athletes who transfer among Division I schools must wait one year to compete. Since the NCAA began automatically exempting first-time transfers from the regulation in 2021, the rule has mostly ensnared only second-time transfers.
The states argue that the rule is applied arbitrarily, with some waivers granted and others denied for no legitimate reason, and that the NCAA can no longer plausibly substantiate the regulation’s original justifications. What’s more, they say, the rule unfairly restricts athletes’ ability to market their personal brand and control their education.
“We’re challenging the rule to restore fairness, competition and the autonomy of college athletes in their educational pursuits,” Yost said.
Joining Yost in the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Colorado, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
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