Transfer portal changes loom as NCAA D-I Board of Directors set to vote on new governance model

The college football season kicks off in less than a month, but the amount of time players have to enter the transfer portal following the 2025 season could still change. The NCAA Division I Board of Directors is scheduled to meet on Aug. 5 for a videoconference call to vote on recommendations from the D-I Decision-Making Working Group.

Among the changes the working group has proposed is cutting 30 committees and providing the Power Four more control to steer D-I governance outcomes. If the proposal passes, the structure would be implemented effectively on Sept. 1, phasing in over time as committees are populated.

The proposed model would grant the power conferences as much as 65% weighted voting power in rules-making committees for decisions on the transfer portal and athlete eligibility, among other topics. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey recently said he’d like that percentage to move up to 68%.

Specifically, the move would reduce the layers of review, opening a pathway to an accelerated legislative process. At the proposed 65%, all Power Four conferences would have to vote in unison to pass an item.

The Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee is already populated and could introduce a proposal to change the transfer portal calendar. A committee could vote and implement a portal change before the portal opens at the end of the upcoming season, per an NCAA source.

The composition of the oversight committees could be adjusted, but the committee itself already exists. The Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee has meetings scheduled for Aug. 1 and Aug. 7.

The NCAA’s House Implementation Committee has also been working on calendar recommendations to commissioners by the end of August for changes to the portal for this season. The House committee has discussed a one-time-only window in January or April.

The Division I Council approved changes to the notification-of-transfer windows in FBS and FCS and men’s and women’s basketball from a total of 45 days to 30 days last October. College football players currently have 30 days to enter, with a 20-day December window and 10-day April window. But grad transfers can enter at any time up until April, and multi-time transfers don’t have to wait to play.

Back in January at the American Football Coaches Association convention in Charlotte, head coaches proposed to move the transfer portal to a 10-day window in early January after bowl games, with the spring window eliminated. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day recently told On3 he prefers a one-time-only portal window in the spring, opposed to the winter. He said he’s not worried about building a roster only months before the season.

“I think there should be one transfer portal in the spring,” Day said. “I don’t think it should be right after the national title game and when the season is over.”