Big 12 bans professional athletes across all sports

• ESPN

Aug 26, 2026, 06:24 PM ET

The Big 12 has agreed to ban professionals from returning in all sports, the conference announced on Wednesday.

The vote from the league's athletic directors was unanimous, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel.

This follows in line with similar rules the Big Ten and SEC announced Tuesday. The ban includes athletes who have declared for a professional draft and did not withdraw before the draft, athletes listed on a pro roster or those who have a signed a contract with any professional sports league.

The ACC is waiting to have its policy formalized.

The rulings come in the wake of two NFL players -- the Cleveland Browns' Dae'Quan Wright and the New Orleans Saints' Zxavian Harris -- exiting training camps to enter the NCAA transfer portal with plans of joining Lane Kiffin's roster at LSU.

Wright and Harris, who both played for Kiffin at Ole Miss, are returning to college football thanks to a court order that is creating havoc throughout the NCAA by allowing athletes from the 2022 class a fifth year of eligibility.

Wright and other athletes from the 2022 class played four college seasons and went pro under the belief that they had exhausted their eligibility. The NCAA adopted a new aged-based model in June that grants athletes up to five years of eligibility within five years, but the new rules did not cover players who began their careers in 2022-23.