The NCAA Division I Council has voted to shorten the transfer windows for football and basketball from 45 days to 30 days. However, the council decided against eliminating the spring transfer window, despite a recommendation from the Football Oversight Committee.
The fall transfer window will now be reduced from 30 to 20 days, beginning the day after the College Football Playoff field is announced. The post-spring transfer window will also decrease, going from 15 days to 10 days under the new legislation. For the 2024-25 academic year, the transfer window dates will be from December 9 to December 28 and from April 16 to April 25.
In men’s and women’s college basketball, the transfer window will now open immediately after the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Previously, it began the day after the March Madness bracket was released. Unlike fall and spring sports, which allow transfers after each semester, winter sports have only one designated transfer window.
Additionally, the rule stating that any school that fires its coach will trigger a separate 30-day transfer window remains unchanged.
Coaches have advocated for stricter limits on transfer activity to address roster uncertainty. After the 2023 season, over 3,800 FBS football players entered the portal, with nearly one-third doing so during the post-spring window. However, only 11 of the top 100 players in the 247Sports Transfer Portal Rankings switched teams during the spring.
While the Division I Council has currently rejected the proposal to eliminate the spring transfer window, it could be reconsidered in the future. This decision follows the preliminary approval of the House v. NCAA case, which paves the way for revenue sharing to commence before the 2025 season. The case is set to receive final approval on April 7, 2025, just nine days before the spring transfer period is scheduled to open.
