On Wednesday, the NCAA Division I Council approved several changes, effective immediately.
Perhaps most notably, there are changes being made to the notification-of-transfer windows across all sports. This includes reducing the number of total days from 60 to 45 in both the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and a reduction from 60 to 45 consecutive days for both men's and women's basketball.
For both the FBS and FCS, the first transfer portal window will be a 30-day period beginning on the Monday after FBS conference championship games are played, which is Dec. 4, and running through early January. There is an exception for student-athletes on teams that compete in the College Football Playoff, which allows for an additional five-day transfer window in January. Then, in the spring, a second transfer window of 15 days takes place "during the second half of April."
Unlike football, the individual transfer portal windows for men's basketball and women's basketball are consecutive. A 45-day window begins for each on the the Monday after Selection Sunday, which is when the 68-team fields for the men's and women's NCAA Division I basketball tournaments are announced. The 2024 Selection Sunday event is scheduled to take place on March 17 for both men's and women's basketball.
"In both men's and women's basketball, the council determined that a 45-day window that concludes on or before May 1 best enables coaches to understand their current rosters, provides stability for student-athletes remaining at the school as they prepare for summer basketball, and encourages student-athletes who intend to transfer to do so before final exams at their current schools and summer school application deadlines at most campuses," Lynda Tealer, chair of the council and deputy athletics director at Florida, said. "Moving forward, we will continue to evaluate the impact of transfer windows on student-athletes, coaches and athletics programs."
Per the Division Council, in all other sports, windows will be modified to the following:
-Fall sports: 30 days in the fall, beginning seven days after a sport's championship selection, and 15 days in the spring (May 1-15).
-Winter sports: 45 days, beginning seven days after championship selection.
-Spring sports: 30 days in the spring, beginning seven days after a sport's championship selection, and 15 days in the fall (Dec. 1-15).
The D-I council also noted that data from the first year of the notification-of-transfer windows showed that 61% of student-athletes who transferred to new schools entered into the NCAA transfer portal within the first 30 days.
According to the Division I Council's update, the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee "supported 45-day windows as preferable to previously introduced 30-day windows."
Cody Shimp, chair of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and former baseball student-athlete at St. Bonaventure, was happy with the resolution.
"We are pleased the student-athlete voice was acknowledged and emphasized as part of the conversation about amending transfer windows," Shimp said. "We are happy that the council was able to find common ground and push forward a 45-day window to continue to provide a reasonable period of time for student-athletes to make rational and informed decisions about their athletic and academic futures."
Of note, the changes are specifically regarding when student-athletes can enter the transfer portal. A student-athlete does not have to choose or enroll at their new school during that time period. There is an exception for graduate students, who can enter the transfer portal at any time.
Another important permanent change to mention is that the council "voted to eliminate the annual limit on initial counters in both FBS and FCS (previously 25 and 30 per year, respectively, per program)."
What this means is that the number of players a school can bring in annually with its recruiting class — counting both high school signees and transfer players — is no longer capped at 25 per year for FBS programs. This means that schools can now replace as many scholarships as the institutions lose in a given year. However, the scholarship allotment still stands at 85 total.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which granted all 2020 fall athletes an additional year of eligibility, and the one-time transfer exception that grants players immediate eligibility after their first transfer, limits on initial counters were paused by the council in 2021. Now, the move has been made permanent.
For teams that will be hiring new head coaches after the conclusion of the 2023 season, such as Michigan State, this could be an important development due to the amount of roster attrition expected after the campaign ends. The new coaching staffs will likely need to rely on the transfer portal to bring new talent in and construct their rosters.
Another interesting note from the Division I Council related to spring football can be read below:
"The council also affirmed changes to spring practice rules to specify that protective equipment is limited to helmets and spider pads. The action is the first legislative change under the pilot sport oversight committee model, in which the Football Oversight Committee adopted the proposal, which was subject to council review prior to implementation."
There were also amendments made to Division I membership requirements. The council adopted changes to membership requirements for Football Bowl Subdivision schools that include the following:
-Eliminate attendance requirements at FBS schools (effective immediately).
-Increase the application fee for transitioning from FCS to FBS from $5,000 to $5 million (effective immediately).
-Require all FBS programs to provide 90% of the total number of allowable scholarships over a two-year rolling period across 16 sports, including football. FBS schools will also be required to fund 210 scholarships each year, amounting to no less than $6 million annually (effective August 2027).
-For schools that begin transitioning to FBS in 2024-25 or later, requirements must be met by the conclusion of the transition process.
Also of note: Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic reports that the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee is now prohibiting professional photoshoots on official visits. It still seems to be allowed on official visits, however.
Something else the NCAA is looking into — at the request of the Collegiate Commissioners Association Collegiate Commissioners Association — is sports wagering reinstatement guidelines.
The changes include possibly loosening up the penalties for student-athletes who bet on games not involving their own team.
The NCAA is also advocating for updated sports betting laws in state legislatures.
"We continue to put student-athlete well-being front and center in the Association's efforts around sports wagering, including this week's action related to reconsideration of penalties that members believe have been overly punitive to student-athletes," NCAA President Charlie Baker said. "This is an important step toward modernizing the NCAA's approach to sports wagering. Included in that updated approach is our plan to advocate through state and federal legislators to reduce harassment of young people from bettors and to increase education efforts to help prevent problem gambling in the student population."
Currently, the NCAA's reinstatement guidelines for wagering-related violations include:
-Student-athletes who engage in activities to influence the outcomes of their own games or knowingly provide information to individuals involved in sports betting activities will potentially face permanent loss of collegiate eligibility in all sports. This would also apply to student-athletes who wager on their own games or on other sports at their own schools.
-If a student-athlete wagers on their own sport at another school, education on sports wagering rules and prevention will be required as a condition of reinstatement, and the loss of 50% of one season of eligibility will be considered.
-For all other wagering-related violations (e.g., wagering on professional sports), cumulative dollar value of the wagers will be taken into consideration with the following terms for reinstatement:
-$200 or less: sports wagering rules and prevention education.
-$201-$500: loss of 10% of a season of eligibility, plus rules and prevention education.
-$501-$800: loss of 20% of a season of eligibility, plus rules and prevention education.
-Greater than $800: loss of 30% of a season of eligibility, plus rules and prevention education.
Now, draft concepts under consideration for potential new reinstatement guidelines include the following:
-On a first offense, eliminate penalties that result in student-athletes being withheld from competition — regardless of the dollar value of the wagers and including bets placed on other sports at a student-athlete's school — and require education on sports wagering rules and prevention.
-On a second offense, potentially involve withholding penalties, depending on the dollar value of the bet(s) in question.
-On a third or subsequent offense, resulting penalty could be a loss of one full season of eligibility.
The NCAA has also recently introduced proposals to boost student-athlete NIL protections and introduced proposals for updated infractions penalties.
