The NCAA D-1 Board of Directors voted in favor of a new governance model on Tuesday. The board met to discuss changes that were recommended by the D-I Decision-Making Working Group, and the proposal ended up passing. The big changes that are coming involve giving the Power Four more control. The changes will go into effect on September 1st.
With the change, Power Four conferences now have more power when it comes to eligibility and transfer portal issues. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was hoping to get the power conferences 68% weighted voting power, but the changes will give them as much as 65%.
There might also be big changes to the college football transfer portal. Some things that we would see in the future is a different amount of time for players to choose to enter the portal, and also the elimination of one of the windows. This would be a big change for NCAA football.
Right now, there are two different windows for players to enter the transfer portal. The first one is at the end of the season, but it interferes with the College Football Playoff. The idea is for players to be able to transfer to a new school before the winter semester starts, but that makes it tough on the guys who are competing for a national title. They essentially have to choose between playing in the CFP and transferring. A lot of players don't have much of a choice in terms of hitting the portal, but they also want to experience the CFP with their current team.
The second college football transfer portal window opens up in the spring. This window is designed to give players an opportunity to transfer after going through spring practices. They get a better idea of what their role will look like for the upcoming season, and they can search for a better fit if that is what's best.
This current transfer portal model could be changing, and there are going to be other things that are different in NCAA sports as well following this vote.
