The Big Ten Conference is demanding a rules change from the NCAA.
Wednesday night, the Big Ten Conference – which, along with the SEC, is arguably the most powerful force in college sports – sent a letter to the NCAA, calling for a serious rules change.
The Big Ten is calling for a “moratorium” on tampering-related investigations, according to a letter obtained by ESPN's Pete Thamel. The Big Ten claims that the current guidelines are “designed for a world that no longer exists.”
The Big Ten wants to put a pause on NCAA bylaw 13.1.1.4, which deals with impermissible contact, saying that there should be new policies, given the current landscape of college sports.
“The cumulative effect of these changes is a marketplace that bears no resemblance to the one that existed when the current rules were written,” the letter reads. “The structural pressures are evident in the data: more than 1,000 FBS football student-athletes who entered the portal on January 2 took campus visits that same weekend – visits requiring travel and institutional coordination that cannot plausibly have been organized in hours – and more than 300 had signed with a new school by the end of that weekend, with some signing as quickly as 90 minutes into the portal.
“Others who entered the portal with a ‘do not contact’ designation – a moniker that makes little sense without a preconception of final destination – signed within 48 hours. These timelines reflect the reality of player movement and raise serious questions about whether the current regulatory structure can realistically accommodate the pace at which the modern transfer market operates.”
Does the NCAA need to consider a change?
This story was originally published by The Spun on Mar 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.