National Letters of Intent are going to disappear.
The NCAA announced Wednesday that players will no longer sign an NLI when they commit to a school. For decades, players have signed letters of intent during signing ceremonies at high schools across the country on National Signing Day. The NLI had been standard since 1964 and was considered the binding agreement between schools and players. If a player wanted to go to a different school after signing an NLI, the school had to release him from the agreement.
Going forward, players will sign a written offer of athletic aid with the school of their choice and other schools will be prohibited from recruiting players once aid agreements are signed.
The decision to eliminate the NLI comes at a time when college athletics is in the midst of significant upheaval. The NCAA is close to a deal in the House antitrust case, as member schools could pay nearly $3 billion to former athletes who were unable to retain their image rights during their college careers. For current and future athletes, the idea of schools sharing revenue with their players is getting closer to a reality. Currently, schools cannot pay players directly and players make money from their image rights through sponsorships and endorsements from donor collectives and other companies.
Shortened transfer windows
Transfer windows in the three major college sports are now 30 days instead of 45.
The NCAA also announced that transfer periods in football and men’s and women’s basketball would be shortened by 15 days. This season, the transfer window will be open from March 24 to April 22 in men’s basketball and would open and close a day later for women’s basketball.
In football there will still be two transfer windows. Players will be able to transfer from Dec. 9-28 after the conclusion of the regular season and again from April 16-25 after spring practice.
The winter transfer window has been a source of consternation in college football since its implementation, given the timing of bowl games. Many players who want to enroll at a new school in time for the second semester must enter the portal before their team’s bowl games. A season ago, Texas backup quarterback Maalik Murphy, now at Duke, entered the portal before the College Football Playoff due to the timing of the transfer window. Murphy started several games for the Longhorns during the 2023 regular season due to Quinn Ewers’ shoulder injury.
