The Fight for a Fifth Year
Q4 update: the Class of 2022, the five-for-five rule, and where every case stands
On July 31, 2026, two rulings landed hours apart on the afternoon the NCAA's waiver window shut: a Nashville injunction restoring a fifth season for 19 basketball players, and a Denver order certifying a nationwide class of every Division I athlete caught in the donut hole. Those rulings started a wave. As of October 22, Class of 2022 athletes have filed more than 50 cases in at least 23 states, trial courts have granted 38 TROs and preliminary injunctions, and more than 240 athletes are playing under orders still in force. The federal picture is the opposite: the Tenth Circuit froze the nationwide class injunction, and the NCAA's appellate record sits at six wins, six losses, and eight appeals pending. This update maps all of it, court by court.
“The waiver window closed July 31. More than 80 days later, the courts are still answering.”
Brandon Leopoldus, Esq.
Get the Playbook
What's Inside
50 Pages. 8 Sections. Plain Language.
- 1The July 31 afternoon: the Nashville injunction and the Denver nationwide class, hours apart
- 2The Ohio breakthrough: the order the judge refused to stay
- 3The wave by the numbers: 50+ cases, 23 states, 38 TROs and preliminary injunctions
- 4More than 240 athletes playing under court orders, led by Indiana and California
- 5The federal picture: the Tenth Circuit stay, and where federal judges are saying no
- 6The NCAA's appellate scorecard: six wins, six losses, eight pending
- 7Ohio's executive order, and the NCAA's federal suit against the governor
- 8What a Class of 2022 athlete should do in Q4, court by court
This playbook is educational. It is general information, not legal, tax, or investment advice for your specific situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Leopoldus Law, APC.