Lawyers in the big NCAA case suggested a big change on Wednesday about how many players teams can have. They said athletes who lost their place could play again without counting towards the new rules, as long as they are still allowed to play.

Lawyers told the court that schools should make lists of all the players they did not choose. This is because a court decision is expected soon, and there could be many players on these lists.

In a new legal paper, these students, called “Designated Student-Athletes,” might be asked to come back and try to get a place on the team. But this is not sure. Or they can go to different schools.

Either way, those athletes will not be part of the new team rules that a judge agreed to last year.

This plan would also help students who were told they could play sports in college but then couldn't. They could get this help for as long as they are allowed to play college sports.

Wilken has said yes to the main parts of the agreement. This means schools can give up to $20.5 million each year to their athletes. Also, more than $2.7 billion will be paid to players. These players said that the NCAA and five large groups unfairly stopped them from making money using their name, picture, and story.

The newest plan was made after two busy weeks. The judge told the lawyers to talk again because he did not like the part about how many players a team could have.

The plan says teams can have more players. For example, football teams can have 105 players instead of 85 with scholarships. But schools may not give scholarships to all players because it costs a lot.

Wilken felt sorry for the hundreds of players who lost their places on the team when schools started getting ready for the agreement. About twelve players talked about it at a meeting on April 7.

Wilken asked the lawyers to change that part of the agreement. The NCAA first said no. They said changing players' places on teams now would cause more problems. Wilken said they must change it. He said if they did not, the whole plan could fail.

The lawyers for the people who sued said they did even better than Wilken. They let schools bring back players they had cut, and this did not count against their team size limit. They also made this rule work for new schools.

The plaintiffs said in their document that they think the changes to the agreement are more than the court asked for.

The lawyers said it is not sure that the athletes will get their places on the team back.

The people being sued said that schools can still choose which players are on their teams. They said this is true even with the new rules about how many players can be on a team. The changes mean that players who lose their spot because of these new rules will be treated as if the rules were never made for them.

The judge will probably give people who don't like the plan a short time to send in their new complaints before she makes her final decision. Steve Berman, one of the main lawyers for the people who started the case, said this week that those who don't like the plan will not be happy with the new idea.

Time is running out for the NCAA and its 1,200 schools.