The NCAA moved on Monday to proceed with what FootballScoop reported last week was in the works as it pertains to the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Specifically, with sources telling FootballScoop that the NCAA and its member schools felt legally confident in a single-portal window but not as confident in just 10 days for student-athletes to determine their future destinations, the NCAA Division I FBS Oversight Committee on Monday forged ahead to lengthen that timeframe.
The new proposal would for the upcoming calendar give FBS student-athletes a two-week time span in early 2026, Jan. 2-16, to potentially visit transfer destinations, negotiate financial incentives and select their subsequent programs.
In its announcement late Monday afternoon, the NCAA outlined the following reasoning for this proposed expansion:
“The Division I Administrative Committee, which meets Oct. 7-8, must approve the change before it takes effect.
“This 15-day notification-of-transfer period would replace the current structure, in which football student-athletes may initiate notification during a 20-day period in December.
“Student-athletes who are members of teams that participate in a postseason contest on or after Jan. 12 may initiate notification during a consecutive-five-day period beginning the day after their team’s final postseason contest.
“In response to another referral from the Administrative Committee, the FBS Oversight Committee discussed the head coach departure exception to the notification-of-transfer period. That exception currently allows student-athletes 30 days to enter the Transfer Portal, beginning the calendar day after head coaches depart or announce departure from their school.
“The FBS Oversight Committee will continue discussing changes to that exception, including the timing and duration, during next week’s meeting.”
Per the proposed changes, the adoption of which next month is “considered a formality,” the new NCAA Transfer Portal Window would overlap with both the annual NCAA Convention in the Washington, D.C., suburbs that runs from Jan. 13-16, 2026, as well as the annual AFCA Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, which is scheduled to operate Jan. 11-13, 2026.
If the NCAA Transfer Portal Window does both shrink and expand to this 14-day term, it’s still yet another stark departure from recent norms. Just a couple of years ago, student-athletes had 45 total days split across two separate windows to select their next college football destination.
Now, after having 30 total days in the 2024-25 calendar split between December and April, the move is to give student-athletes 14 days in a single-window format that NCAA member schools wish to adopt for the foreseeable future, numerous coaches, directors of player personnel and general managers told FootballScoop this month.
