NCAA releases sweeping changes to transfer portal window, sports wagering violations

The NCAA Division I Legislative Committee has ratified or adopted some rule change proposals in areas related to the transfer portal, scholarship allotments and sports wagering.

First and foremost, the council introduced a proposal that would cut the designated windows for players to enter the transfer portal in half.

Existing rules give football players a 45-day window to notify their current school of their intentions to transfer following conference championship games in the winter, then another 15-day window at the beginning of May. The new proposal would cut that 60-day total down to just 30 days.

Various committees will review the proposal and suggest any potential amendments over the summer.

A handful of prominent college football coaches complained this offseason about the transfer portal windows being unnecessarily long, including Arkansas‘ Sam Pittman and South Carolina‘s Shane Beamer.

“I personally believe that it’s open too long,” Pittman said during an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show. “I think it needs to close down. I think kids who go in the transfer portal know they’re going to transfer way faster than 45 days.”

Added Beamer, fleshing out the reasoning a bit more:

“I get why the one in the winter is longer,” Beamer said. “You’ve got a lot going on, bowl games and signing classes in the high school ranks and guys aren’t going to bowl games and they want to be able to enter the portal. You’ve got some guys that are in bowl games, they want to finish the season. So I get why it’s long. But it’s really, really hard in December and January because that window is so long and there’s so many things going on.

“If a guy’s going to transfer, he knows he’s transferring by the end of spring practice. He doesn’t need the whole month of May to figure it out.”

Scholarship stipulations for transfers

Two other rule tweaks the council adopted this week related to transfers and their scholarships at their new institutions.

First, the rules stipulate that any school who awards a scholarship to a transfer must honor that scholarship for the rest of the student-athlete’s eligibility unless they graduate, transfer again or leave for professional athletics opportunities.

However, a program can opt not to count a transfer’s scholarship against its totals in the event that transfer decides not to participate in sports after a coaching change at his new school.

Second, schools are not required to count the scholarship if the transferring athlete does not actually enroll at the school.

Sports wagering reinstatement guidelines announced

With a growing focus on sports wagering after high-profile incidents at a handful of Division I programs this spring, the NCAA is moving to further clarify its reinstatement guidelines.

For all wagering-related violations that were reported on or after May 2, the following guidelines will apply.

• Student-athletes who engage in activities to influence the outcomes of their own games or knowingly provide information to individuals involved in sports betting activities will potentially face permanent loss of collegiate eligibility in all sports. This would also apply to student-athletes who wager on their own games or on other sports at their own schools.
• If a student-athlete wagers on their own sport at another school, education on sports wagering rules and prevention will be required as a condition of reinstatement, and the loss of 50% of one season of eligibility will be considered.
• For all other wagering-related violations (e.g., wagering on professional sports), cumulative dollar value of the wagers will be taken into consideration with the following terms for reinstatement:
  $200 or less: sports wagering rules and prevention education.
  $201-$500: loss of 10% of a season of eligibility, plus rules and prevention education.
  $501-$800: loss of 20% of a season of eligibility, plus rules and prevention education.
  Greater than $800: loss of 30% of a season of eligibility, plus rules and prevention education.

The new rules are a softening of the previously existing policy, which stipulated that in most cases student-athletes who wagered on sports at any level would lose one full season of eligibility.

“These new guidelines modernize penalties for college athletes at a time when sports wagering has been legalized in dozens of states and is easily accessible nationwide with online betting platforms,” said Alex Ricker-Gilbert, athletics director at Jacksonville and chair of the DI Legislative Committee. “While sports wagering by college athletes is still a concern — particularly as we remain committed to preserving the integrity of competition in college sports — consideration of mitigating factors is appropriate as staff prescribe penalties for young people who have made mistakes in this space.”