NCAA reportedly considering allowing five years of college eligibility for all sports

Is another significant change to the college athletics landscape coming to the NCAA?

On Friday morning, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reported that the NCAA is discussing the possibility of allowing all college athletes to have five years of eligibility instead of the four-year rule that is currently in place. Rothstein added that he received this information from an NCAA official and that talks will be ongoing early into the new year.

The idea of allowing a fifth year of eligibility was first mentioned by Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports back in September.

The NCAA is considering allowing five years of eligibility for players in all sports moving forward, per an NCAA official.

The topic will continue to be discussed in early 2025.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) January 3, 2025

Amateurism in college sports has pretty much been a thing of the past since the introduction of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), but adding an extra year of eligibility to any and all athletes could bring a whole new level of change. How would this affect redshirt seasons? What about older players who transfer to college after a few years at the JUCO or international level? Would this be a strict five-year plan without the possibility of waivers? None of that is clear quite yet.

Or would this change not matter much at all if ultimately approved? Some of the issues mentioned above are currently happening. We’re already seeing college athletes use five or six or seven years of eligibility. Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia recently sued the NCAA for another year (his sixth) of college football and won.

It’s the wild, wild west out there right now.