It was an exceptional week to be a Fighting Irish fan. After seeing Notre Dame defeat the Louisville Cardinals, a long-time rival ranked twenty-second in the nation at the time, I could not feel more excited about the future of my favorite college football team.

And then the news broke. Posts decorated in navy and orange flooded my social media feeds as alerts of 5-star prospect Deuce Knight flipping his commitment from Notre Dame to Auburn University barraged my screen. I wished I could say this was a surprise; however, Knight was simply joining almost a dozen other 5-star recruits in changing schools before finishing their senior season, showing how commitments  are now relatively meaningless.

The ability for athletes to transfer effortlessly to any university of their choosing is deterring many collegiate sports fans, such as myself, from maintaining loyalty to a single school. While many argue that the current state of the NCAA transfer portal is the most beneficial for the success of college athletes, it is, in fact, hurting the pleasure of watching college sports as the loyalty of both players and fans continues to decline.

As a child, nothing captivated me more than watching my favorite college athletes in the spotlight, whether it was Notre Dame’s Manti T’eo contending for the 2012 Heisman award or Bam Adebayo and De’Aaron Fox giving it their all for Kentucky’s incredible March Madness run in 2017. Regardless of both teams falling barely short in their respective goals, these players gave 110% effort and were incredibly proud to represent their schools.

This school spirit is rarely seen at the same caliber as collegiate athletes now see these years as a way to solely increase their professional league draft rankings. If given the opportunity to play for a slightly more popular or well-funded university, many will accept the offer without hesitation. Such developments leave fans hesitant to trust their favorite teams in terms of athletes’ focus on the program’s overarching goals. Consequently, as athletes rescind their dedication, the public viewership also rescinds theirs.

Prior to their 2024-2025 campaign, the Florida State Seminoles finished with a record of 13-1, just barely missing the four-team playoffs; however, they still lost seven offensive players as well as three defensive personnel to the infamous transfer portal. This year, FSU shockingly experienced one of the worst seasons in program history, winning only 2 of their 10 total games after holding 10th place in the AP Preseason Rankings. Concurrently, their previous season’s attendance of over 78,000 fans per game plummeted this year to a measly average of 53,000 in attendance, which was, according to D1 Ticker, the largest drop of any Division 1 school.

Along with losing 22 athletes before this season, Florida State Head Coach Mike Norvell also brought in 17 new stars, many ranked top-10 or higher positionally among other transfers. This includes DJ Uiagalelei, who came into the season as a well-decorated senior in his last year of eligibility.

Despite the spectacular nature of these players, the team appeared uncoordinated throughout the entire season. The lack of team chemistry and experience with FSU’s coaching style played a large factor towards the program’s failures. As a result, the Seminoles lost 14 players before the college football offseason even began.

At this rate, some may argue that the transfer portal could single-handedly ruin a once prestigious football university. 

The transfer portal, however, has had an equally positive benefit for some athletes as well. Oregon’s top receiver Tez Johnson has been a Ducks fan his entire life. Due to a subpar recruiting process, the 3-star prospect began his college career at Troy University. After three seasons of development with the Trojans, Tez finally reached his dream school, where he led the Oregon Ducks to the top seed in this season’s playoffs.

While certain athletes benefit from the positive aspects of the transfer portal, the current system is extremely unregulated and can therefore allow many to abuse the lack of rules. That is why I am asking not for the portal to be removed, but simply for it to be altered in a way that benefits both athletes and universities alike.

Unless a change is made to the NCAA transfer portal, college football will lose its appeal all together. This league has an unparalleled level of dedicated fans that love their school’s team with a passion, something that professional sports cannot replicate. If children continue to see their favorite athletes leave a team after only a year of playing, how can we expect their loyalty to remain with a single school?

While the portal is still an important and useful component of collegiate athletics, the NCAA’s Board of Governors must look to alter the system’s process.  

Please consider enacting a change of policy where athletes have to wait at least 2 years to consider transferring and can no longer decommit from the school that they have already dedicated their talents to. This approach retains the opportunity for athletes to improve their chances of achieving professional level dreams while at the same time reducing the amount of unnecessary switches that deters many fans from supporting teams.

Regardless of various loyalties to teams and schools across the country, I hope to represent the college sports fan base in its entirety by stressing that this miniscule yet effective adjustment has a chance to return glory to the games that we so dearly love.