DI Board of Directors directs Cabinet to advance age

Key Points:

• The Division I Board of Directors has directed the Division I Cabinet to advance an age-based eligibility model allowing student-athletes up to five years of eligibility starting the academic year after they turn 19 or graduate high school, removing the limit of four seasons of competition within five years.
• The board supports maintaining core guarantees such as degree-completion funding for up to 10 years after eligibility expires and keeping current four-seasons-in-five-years rules for athletes competing in the 2025-26 academic year, with no retroactive application for those finishing eligibility by spring 2026.
• Football student-athlete Sam Edwards praised the new model for simplifying eligibility, allowing full use of rosters without saving players for redshirts, which benefits both players and coaches.
• The board approved a rule change allowing schools to refuse to enter a student-athlete into the Transfer Portal only if the athlete agrees to release the school from that requirement as part of a settlement-related benefits agreement.
• A proposal was introduced to presume violations in tampering cases involving transfer students, requiring schools to prove no violation occurred to avoid penalties, and the Student-Athlete Advocacy Committee is working on a model to gain legislative authority to propose rules affecting student-athlete experiences.