Athletes, led by Vanderbilt LB Langston Patterson, file lawsuit challenging 'redshirt rule' to permit five full years of eligibility

A new lawsuit has been filed against the NCAA challenging the “redshirt rule,” according to a report from On3’s Pete Nakos. The redshirt rule allows players to compete in up to four seasons of competition over a span of five years, essentially granting one year to take full advantage of a scholarship without actually competing.

The new lawsuit will challenge the eligibility rules as they currently exist, with the goal to get the NCAA to grant a blanket five years eligibility to all athletes. That would be a slight departure from the current framework players operate under.

SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter

Vanderbilt linebacker Langston Patterson is leading the group of college athletes filing the class-action lawsuit. Attorney Ryan Downton is co-lead counsel on the case; he represented Diego Pavia in an eligibility lawsuit against the NCAA.

The lawsuit lays out the goal of the athletes in fairly simple terms. They call out the NCAA’s current rules for having “the unjustifiable effect of suppressing athletic careers, limiting college athletes’ institutional mobility, and unlawfully restraining the market for college athletes’ services.”

The aim is to secure a blanket five years of competitive eligibility for all players. To wit:

“Plaintiffs seek relief under federal law to strike down these unreasonable restraints and vindicate college athletes’ rightful opportunity to compete throughout their eligibility window,” the suit reads.

The lawsuit goes on to argue that the “redshirt rule,” when combined with the NCAA’s four seasons of competition rule, serves to act as an anticompetitive device rather than as a reasonable eligibility boundary. That’s the fundamental point the lawsuit will likely hinge on.

The plaintiffs further outline how athletes’ opportunities are harmed by the current implementation of the four seasons of competition rule and the redshirt rule. The lawsuit states the following:

“These overlapping Rules distort the market for Division I athletics by penalizing academically eligible high-performing college athletes who choose to compete instead of redshirting, thereby forcing them to forfeit a year of potential competition and market value without any legitimate procompetitive justification.”