The NCAA has approved changes to the FBS calendar — including a shortened transfer portal in January, moving up Week 1 and an altered offseason practice calendar that will allow for NFL-style voluntary workouts over the summer. The changes will go into effect on Jan. 1.
Under the new calendar approved by the NCAA, the FBS season would begin one week earlier, on what is now Week 0. With another week added to the schedule, each team would get a second bye week. The newly approved calendar also includes a shortened transfer portal window and a significant shift in the rules about offseason activities.
Josh Brooks, the vice chair of the oversight committee and the athletic director at Georgia, said the committee worked closely with the American Football Coaches Association when tweaking the calendar.
“The work of the calendar subcommittee in building off the American Football Coaches Association’s recommendations has been critical in establishing clarity with the college football calendar,” Brooks said. “We dedicated a tremendous amount of time and energy to ensure we built a calendar that best fits the needs of our coaches and student-athletes. I am proud of this work and appreciate the efforts of our group, which included athletics directors, coaches, student-athletes and commissioners from various schools and conferences.”
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea, a member of the committee and president of the AFCA, said the new schedule is a “great step forward for our game” and will “allow for more flexibility for team building in the spring and summer.”
For the new changes to go into effect on Jan. 1, the Division I Cabinet must approve them at its meeting on Oct. 6-7.
Changes to offseason, Week 1
Spring practices and summer activities as we know them are over. Under the new policy, teams will be permitted to conduct 21 on-field practices across two sessions in the offseason. The two sessions combined cannot exceed seven weeks, and no single session can last more than five weeks.
Another feature of the new offseason activities calendar is a mandate for schools to designate a minimum of nine discretionary or voluntary weeks for athletes when athletic activities are not permitted.
That will lead into a preseason consisting of 21 practices over 27 calendar days — a reduction from the current model of 25 practices over 31 calendar days.
The college football season also arrives one week sooner next fall. Week 1 will be moved up to what is now Week 0, and teams will be afforded an extra off week during the season.
Shorter transfer portal window
Teams, coaches and fans will have to hold their breath a little less long under the new calendar. If approved, it would shorten the transfer portal window from 15 days to 10 days in January. The portal would open on the first business day following Jan. 1.
With the elimination of the spring transfer portal window this year, players already had less time to make their open portal decisions. Under the new calendar, they would have even less time to jump into the transfer market.
Based on this year’s calendar, the window will open on Monday, Jan. 4. That’s three weeks before the season officially ends with the national championship game on Jan. 25.
