NCAA shrinks window for athletes to enter portal
The NCAA Division I Council approved changes to the transfer portal windows that will shrink the number of days for student-athletes to enter their name in the portal.
Tom VanHaaren, ESPN Staff Writer
The NCAA Division I Council approved changes to the transfer portal windows that will shrink the number of days for student-athletes to enter their name in the portal.
The rule change will impact all sports and give players 45 total days throughout the year to enter their names into the transfer portal.
Each sport will have 45 total days, but it will be divided differently by sport. For example, before this rule change, the window for football would open the day after the College Football Playoff teams are announced, which was Dec. 4 in 2022, and would stay open for 45 days.
The next period would open April 15 to April 30, which will remain the same with the new changes. Under the new rule, there will be a 30-day window after the season and 15 days in the spring.
In FBS and FCS football, the new 30-day window will begin the Monday after FBS conference championship games. Any student-athletes competing in the College Football Playoff will also be given an additional five-day transfer window in January, while the second window will occur during the second half of April.
For men's and women's basketball, a 45-day window opens the Monday after Selection Sunday.
The Division I Council had proposed changes to the portal in January that would have seen a reduction from 60 total days to 30, but voted Tuesday to instead shrink the window to 45 days. This does not impact when a student-athlete can transfer, only when they can enter their name into the NCAA database to transfer without penalty.
Once the athlete's name is in the transfer portal, she or he is allowed to have contact with other coaches and can transfer at any time. Graduate students are still able to enter their name in the transfer portal at any time without penalty.
