College football is officially moving to a single offseason transfer portal window, the NCAA announced Wednesday.
The Division I Administrative Committee voted to approve a legislative change that eliminates the spring transfer window but did not sign off on establishing Jan. 2-11 as the lone portal window for FBS and FCS players.
In response to feedback from student-athletes, the FBS and FCS oversight committees will discuss modifying the dates and length of the proposed January window. The Administrative Committee will consider those adjustments when it meets in October.
FBS head coaches advocated for a January portal window at the AFCA convention in January, and both oversight committees voted to support changing the transfer windows earlier this month. The reform will bring major changes to the timing and duration of the offseason transfer period in college football.
The initial proposal would require college football players to wait until Jan. 2 -- the day after the completion of the College Football Playoff quarterfinals -- to enter their names in the NCAA transfer portal database and be contacted by prospective schools. Graduate transfers were previously allowed to enter the portal early but now must also wait until the January window.
Players would have 10 days to enter the portal but are under no deadline to make a commitment to their next school once they enter.
Players on teams still competing in the College Football Playoff in January would have five days after their final postseason game to enter the portal. This season's CFP semifinals -- the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl -- are scheduled for Jan. 8 and 9, respectively.
In previous years, the winter transfer portal window opened in early December on the Monday after bowl game selections. The change is aimed at alleviating some of the stress of the loaded December calendar, during which transfer recruiting, coaching changes, bowl practices, high school signing day, bowl games and the College Football Playoff all were going on simultaneously.
Last year's winter portal window was Dec. 9-28 with the spring portal window on April 16-25. The total number of FBS scholarship transfers has increased yearly and surpassed 3,200 in 2024-25.
The elimination of the spring transfer period is a move the NCAA has considered in recent years. It was first established as a 15-day window in April 2023 and marked the final deadline for players to transfer and be immediately eligible at their next school. In 2024-25, the spring window was reduced to a 10-day period.
The spring window had become a source of frustration among coaches in recent years. Unexpected post-spring departures are difficult to replace, and the elimination of the one-time transfer rule has given players and agents the leverage to demand more money by threatening to transfer. Coaches have also taken advantage of the spring window to cut underperforming players and bring in additional transfers.
This year, more than 1,100 FBS scholarship players entered the transfer portal in the month of April.
Head coaching changes currently trigger a 30-day window for players who wish to enter the portal and explore a transfer. Football players at UCLA and Virginia Tech are already allowed to transfer early after their head coaches were fired Sunday.
Though many head coaches have expressed support for a January transfer window, Ohio State coach Ryan Day spoke out against it earlier this month, telling reporters it "doesn't make any sense to me" that coaches must focus on recruiting transfers while their team is still competing for a national championship.