Sports Practice Team Secures Preliminary Injunction Against NCAA Allowing Client to Play College Football in 2025-26 Season

Phoenix, Ariz. (July 23, 2025) - Phoenix Partner and Chair of the firm’s Sports Practice Gregg Clifton and Reno Managing Partner Brandon Wright recently obtained a preliminary injunction against the NCAA that paves the way for their client, wide receiver Cortez Braham, Jr., to play college football in the upcoming 2025-26 season.

U.S. District Judge Miranda M. Du's decision blocks the NCAA from rendering Mr. Braham ineligible to play a seventh season in college, pending a final decision on the merits. Mr. Braham played last year for the University of Nevada Reno, where he ranked second on the team in both catches and receiving yards. Prior to that, he spent two seasons at West Virginia University and three years attending Hutchinson Community College in Kansas.

Mr. Clifton and Mr. Wright filed suit against the NCAA on Mr. Braham's behalf, alleging that several of the organization's eligibility rules - known as the Five-Year Rule, 2-4 Transfer GPA Rule, and the Rule of Restitution - violate the Sherman Antitrust Act. The Lewis Brisbois team then sought a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of those rules against Mr. Braham so he can compete in the 2025-26 season.

The Five-Year Rule provides that student-athletes are limited to four seasons of Division I competition, to be completed within a five-year "eligibility window" that begins to run when they first enroll full-time in a collegiate program. This window includes any years spent at a two-year junior college (JUCO), even if the student-athlete did not compete in any athletic activity.

The NCAA decided to not count the 2020-21 "COVID year" against student-athletes' eligibility window, thus extending the window to six years for all affected athletes, including Mr. Braham. He used two years of eligibility at Hutchinson CC, playing the full 2019 season before being forced to sit out the 2021 season and forego a scholarship to the University of West Virginia due to the 2-4 Transfer GPA Rule. Ulltimately, Braham satisfied the GPA rule and all of Mr. Braham's seasons at West Virginia - including a redshirt year in 2023 - counted toward his eligibility window, as did his season with Nevada.

Mr. Braham cannot take advantage of an NCAA waiver granting one extra year of Division I eligibility to former JUCO players for the 2025-26 season because his five-year eligibility window has already ended. The NCAA issued that blanket waiver following a Tennessee federal court ruling that allowed Vanderbilt University quarterback Diego Pavia - who began his college career at a JUCO - to play a sixth college season.

In her July 18 decision, Judge Du found that, as a preliminary matter, the challenged eligibility rules can be subject to scrutiny under the Sherman Act because they are commercial in nature. She noted the proliferation of lucrative financial opportunities for student-athletes under the new Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) regime.

Judge Du concluded that Mr. Braham was likely to succeed on the merits of his claim that the Five-Year Rule has a substantial anticompetitive effect on the labor market for Division I college football players, while lacking sufficient procompetitive justifications. The judge found that Mr. Braham showed he would suffer irreparable harm absent an injunction, including loss of the opportunity to play college football, secure NIL deals, and further his professional development.

In addition, Judge Du enjoined the NCAA from enforcing against Mr. Braham the Rule of Restitution, which allows for potential retroactive penalties if a student-athlete is granted additional eligibility via a restraining order or injunction that is later vacated, stayed, or reversed.