The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals released one opinion on November 6 with Colorado ties. Read the summary or entire opinion, below.
Wisne v. NCAA, Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Colorado (D.C. No. 1:26-CV-03063-CNS-KAS). Plaintiffs-Appellees are a group of student-athletes who have completed four seasons of Division I competition at member schools of the Defendant-Appellant National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”). Prior to a rule change agreed upon in June 2026, the NCAA limited Division I student-athletes to four seasons of competition within a five-year period. The NCAA subsequently adopted a new rule allowing eligible athletes to compete for up to five years during a five-year period.
The NCAA chose not to apply this rule retroactively to student-athletes like Plaintiffs, who had already competed in the maximum number of seasons permitted under the old rule. Plaintiffs sued the NCAA, arguing its decision not to apply the new rule retroactively is an illegal restraint of trade in the labor market for NCAA
Division I athletes, in violation of § 1 of the Sherman Act, see 15 U.S.C. § 1. The district court granted Plaintiffs a preliminary injunction, ordering the NCAA to allow Plaintiffs to compete for a fifth season. The NCAA appeals that order.
Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1), we conclude that Plaintiffs’ proposed labor market—all of NCAA Division I athletics in the United States—lacks evidentiary support. Therefore, we reverse. Read the opinion.