Source: NCAA votes for single portal window

Major changes are coming to the transfer portal in college football after the NCAA Football Oversight Committee voted Thursday to move to a January transfer window and eliminate the spring window, a source confirmed to ESPN.

The proposed lone transfer window would be a 10-day period that opens Jan. 2, 2026, one day after the College Football Playoff quarterfinals are completed.

FBS coaches voted unanimously to support the January portal proposal during their American Football Coaches Association convention earlier this year, saying it will give players and coaches more time to focus on finishing their season while still preserving the opportunity for players to transfer to their new school for the spring semester.

In recent years, the portal has opened for underclassmen transfers in early December immediately following conference championship games and bowl selections. In 2024-25, the winter transfer window was Dec. 9-28, and the spring portal period was April 16-25.

The collision of transfer transactions, coaching changes, high school signing day and CFP and bowl games in December has been a major source of frustration for football coaching staffs. Last season, Penn State and SMU lost backup quarterbacks to the portal while they were still competing in the playoff, and Marshall opted out of the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl after determining it did not have enough players to compete due to portal departures brought on by a coaching change.

The elimination of the spring window, if approved, will generally be welcomed by coaches but could come under scrutiny and perhaps legal challenges for restricting the transfer movement of athletes.

The NCAA's FBS and FCS oversight committees recommended eliminating the spring window last August, citing the importance of roster stability for football programs, but did not move forward with pursuing that change while schools reckoned with the implications of the House settlement, revenue sharing and new roster limits in college athletics.

Last year, the NCAA had to abandon its one-time transfer rule amid legal challenges and pass emergency legislation to permit unlimited transfers for athletes who are academically eligible and meeting progress-to-degree requirements.

The spring portal window has traditionally been the final opportunity for players to make moves ahead of their upcoming season. Some coaches have taken advantage of it to cut players from their roster and sign additional transfers. Others view the spring portal period as giving players and their representatives too much leverage to seek more money from deals with schools that were previously signed in December and January.

Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava became the latest high-profile example in April when he opted to enter the portal and transfer to UCLA after a falling out with Tennessee's coaching staff over NIL contract discussions.

In 2024-25, the NCAA's Division I Council voted to reduce the total number of days players in FBS and FCS can be entered into the portal from 45 to 30. Dropping to 10 would represent another significant reduction that results in a frenzied period with thousands of college football players becoming available at the same time. Players can commit and transfer to their next school at any time after their names have been entered into the portal.

Players who have earned their degree and are moving on as graduate transfers have traditionally been permitted to transfer before underclassmen players during the portal era. Last year, they were allowed to begin entering their names in the portal on Oct. 1. The NCAA has also previously made exceptions on transfer window dates for players at schools going through coaching changes and for those on teams whose postseason ends after the portal window closes.

The oversight committee's vote was first reported by Yahoo Sports.