There will be only one transfer portal window for college football in 2026, but exactly when that window will be held is still being determined.
The NCAA’s Division I Administrative Committee officially eliminated the spring transfer portal window on Wednesday. As a result, there will be only one transfer portal window for the 2026 season, which will take place in the winter, but exact dates for that transfer portal window are still being decided.
The initial proposal from the Division I Football Oversight Committee earlier this month called for a single 10-day transfer window from January 2-11, with an additional five-day window after the season for players on teams who play in a postseason contest on Jan. 7 or later. However, the NCAA has now called on the Football Oversight Committee to consider modifications to the length and timing of the transfer window, citing student-athlete feedback.
Administrative Committee eliminates DI football's spring transfer window and fall transfer window's graduate student exception.
— NCAA News (@NCAA_PR) September 17, 2025
In response to student-athlete feedback, football oversight committees will consider modifications to proposed single January window, including length pic.twitter.com/fFP3sEf0ty
While the SEC, ACC and Big 12 have all reportedly been in favor of a January transfer window, that proposal has been met with pushback from Big Ten leaders – including Ohio State coach Ryan Day and athletic director Ross Bjork – who are opposed to having the offseason’s only transfer window take place before the national championship game, which will be played on Jan. 19.
“I don't think it's a good idea at all,” Day said last week when asked about the January portal window. “In the conversations that we had with the Big Ten coaches, I think the majority of them agree. I just don't quite understand how teams that are playing in the playoffs are expected to make the decisions and sign their upcoming players while they're still getting ready to play for games. It doesn't make any sense to me.
“I know the calendar is funky, but I know that the Big Ten and (commissioner) Tony Petitti's been working hard because he doesn't believe in it either and neither do the coaches in the Big Ten. We had a lot of long discussions about that and tried to work through the different windows, but I don't agree with it being in January.”
Bjork was in favor of eliminating the winter transfer window and keeping the spring transfer window.
“If we ever say that we care about academics and we want to live by that, then I think the transfer portal window should be in the spring. And then now that you have a revenue sharing contract, where you will have an MOU with an athlete, from a fiscal management standpoint, it's better to put it in the spring,” Bjork said in June.
If the NCAA sticks with the originally proposed timeframe for the transfer portal window, it would open one day after the conclusion of the College Football Playoff quarterfinals and end two days after the CFP semifinals. That would force teams who advance to the late rounds of the playoffs to navigate the transfer portal while competing for a national championship, all the while allowing other teams to tamper with their players after the transfer portal is closed for everyone else.
Those teams might not get much sympathy from the rest of college football, however.
“It’s really hard to be playing in a championship setting and having to deal with that. When I brought that up as a complaint or a problem, I was told there’s no crying from the yacht,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said in May.
In addition to eliminating the spring transfer window, the Administrative Committee adopted changes to the recruiting calendar on Wednesday, according to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger. The entire month of December will now be a dead period while Jan. 5-31 will be a contact period. Schools will also now have to wait until Nov. 15 of a prospect’s senior year to extend official written scholarship offers; previously, schools were able to extend official offers on Aug. 1.
