The Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) is expected to soon hold a vote to decide whether or not to implement an early signing period for college football.
Commissioners from the Football Bowl Subdivision's (FBS) 10 conferences are expected to vote on the proposal either Tuesday or Wednesday at their annual meetings, ESPN reported. The Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) will also consider a similar proposal for their conferences.
If passed, the new early signing period in college football would begin on Dec. 16, but it would only effect high school seniors.
The CCA handles letters of intent, ESPN noted, which high school recruits sign to formally commit to accepting a scholarship from a particular school. The new policy would open a three-day signing period for recruits to be able to commit earlier than they were previously allowed.
The issue has been long considered by several leadership institutions in college football and one CAA member would like to see it finally resolved, the Associated Press reported.
"Seeing the rule approved is a distinct possibility," Jon Steinbrecher, commissioner of the Mid-American Conference, told reporters at the meetings.
He was part of a committee that prepared the proposal for the impending vote, which he acknowledged the CAA could ultimately decide to postpone. Not wanting that to happen, Steinbrecher included a built-in review for the policy two years in.
"Quite frankly, given the two-year look-in that's part of the proposal, I would just as soon say, 'Let's either move forward or not move forward,' " he said. "Let's get off of being in limbo, which is where we have been for a long time."
The Power Five conferences - the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC - appear to be mostly in favor of the early signing period, as does the other five - the AAC, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West and Sun Belt. Regardless, conference leadership believes there will be some debate over it at the least.
