In a significant move for college athletics, the NCAA announced from its headquarters that the national letter of intent (NLI) program has been immediately eliminated. This change marks a historic shift in the way recruiting will operate, ending a practice that has been in place since 1964.
The NLI served as a formal and binding agreement between high school athletes and college programs for over 60 years. In its place, the NCAA will introduce a new financial aid agreement. This agreement will maintain many of the core functions of the NLI, but is expected to be linked with a new revenue-sharing model across college athletics. One of the main changes will allow transfer athletes to sign with a new school as soon as they enter the transfer portal.
According to the NCAA, once a prospective athlete signs a written offer of athletic aid, other schools will be prohibited from any recruiting communications. This decision aligns with broader changes underway in college sports, particularly in light of an upcoming settlement that could provide around $2.8 billion in damages to current and former college athletes. This settlement is also paving the way for college programs to start paying their athletes over $20 million annually as early as next fall, with a final hearing for approval set for April 7, 2025.
Interestingly, this decision comes just over a year after the Collegiate Commissioners Association instituted changes that allowed athletes to withdraw from NLI agreements without penalty in certain situations, such as coaching changes.
Next on the agenda could be updates to the NCAA recruiting calendar, specifically for football. Earlier this year, college commissioners did not vote on adding a new high school signing period in June. Instead, the early signing period for the 2025 cycle will kick off on December 4, 2024, followed by the traditional signing period starting on February 5, 2025.
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