The NCAA Division I Board of Directors agreed on Wednesday, August 31, 2022, to adopt a new transfer portal system for all of its sports. These changes, proposed by the Division I Transformation Committee, are intended to provide better clarity for student-athletes and schools. Most notably, the NCAA announces new transfer windows for fall, winter and spring sports. These changes are effective immediately.
“The decision to adopt the transfer proposal today reflects the Board’s commitment to enacting transformational changes in college sports,” said Jere Morehead, President of the University of Georgia and chair of the Board of Directors.
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As mentioned before, new transfer windows have been adopted for the three different “seasons” of sports: fall, winter, and spring. These windows are different for each season and are listed below:
Fall sports: a 45-day window beginning the day after championships selections are made in their sport, or May 1-15.
Winter Sports: a 60-day window beginning the day after championships selections are made in the sport.
Spring sports: Dec. 1-15, or a 45-day window beginning the day after selections are made in the sport.
Exceptions to the windows have been added for student-athletes who experience a head coaching change, or have athletics aid issues.
The board decided to keep the one-time transfer policy that gives student-athletes immediate eligibility the next season after their first transfer. This eligibility is given provided the student-athlete notifies their school during their new transfer window of their respective sport’s season. There were reports over the summer that suggested the NCAA was going to allow student-athletes to transfer multiple times and give them immediate eligibility for all transfers. However, that idea was officially put to rest on Wednesday.
Even though student-athletes still can only transfer once with guaranteed immediate eligibility, the board adopted new, more specific standards for immediate eligibility waivers for student-athletes who do not otherwise meet the one-time transfer exception. These standards are centered on the student-athlete’s well-being and/or circumstances outside the student-athletes control. Along with the new changes, the board will continue to study the impact of the new transfer rules in both the short and long term, and they will use those studies to allow student-athletes to transfer multiple times in the future potentially.
There is no denying the growth in the number of transfers across the nation and the increased flexibility given to student-athletes. With these new rules in place, it will be interesting to see if those transfer numbers go up or down in the next year. There were more than 950 college football players who entered their names into the transfer portal in 2021. And there were more than 1,700 college basketball players who entered their names into the transfer portal in 2022.
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