NCAA sues Ohio governor over fifth-year eligibility order

The NCAA sued Ohio Governor Mike DeWine in federal court Friday, challenging his executive order allowing the state’s colleges to give athletes from the high school class of 2022 a fifth season.

NCAA President Charlie Baker said the organization filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at the direction of its Board of Governors and Division I Board of Directors. It is seeking an injunction and a court declaration against the order.

The dispute concerns players excluded from the NCAA’s new eligibility guidance after already playing four seasons. DeWine signed the order Tuesday, giving Ohio’s public and private universities the option to let those athletes compete, the Associated Press reported.

In its Friday statement, the NCAA argues that the order violates the Commerce Clause, the First Amendment and state law.

Baker also addressed a separate Ohio Supreme Court proceeding involving basketball player Filip Borovićanin and other athletes. The NCAA says that court’s recent order stayed an appellate mandate without reinstating the trial court’s injunction, and that it does not believe the players were declared immediately eligible.

The Associated Press report says the Ohio Supreme Court requested briefs by Monday. Baker said the NCAA will respond then.