Video Transcript
Hannah Beam (Reporter): When Syracuse women’s soccer forward Emery Streets entered the transfer portal after her freshman year, the decision wasn’t simple, but it was necessary.
Emery Streets: After that season, the whole coaching staff got hired at Ole Miss, so they all left, so with the new coaching staff coming in, I just kind of wanted a fresh start, a different change.
Beam: And stories like Emery’s are becoming more common nationwide. According to the NCAA, the number of Division I athletes entering the transfer portal has increased each year since 2023, with more than fourteen thousand undergraduate athletes entering in 2025 alone.
Streets: You want to find someone who believes in you, a team that supports you, and the culture of the team is really important. The big thing about coming to Syracuse is that they had a really big culture around the teams.
Beam: One fan who’s been following Syracuse sports for years is Anthony DiNicola, known to his peers as the “Syracuse Waterboy,” a familiar face around any Syracuse sporting event. He says, “Each year seems like it’s a completely brand-new team, so you don’t get that emotional connection.” At the same time, the rise of NIL opportunities is also changing how fans see college athletes, as players build personal brands and new ways to connect with supporters.
Andrew Lavella: Every year, the fans have to re-fall in love with the team, and I think it honestly makes fans have a hard time connecting with the team.
Beam: For longtime Syracuse fans, part of the college sports experience used to be watching players grow over several seasons. Now, with more athletes entering the transfer portal each year, many say they’re getting used to learning a new roster almost every season. Still, for athletes like Emery, the transfer portal creates opportunities to find the right fit, not just as players, but as students.
Streets: People who enter the transfer portal are trying to find the best opportunity for themselves to succeed, not just in sports, but also in life.
Beam: For NCC News, I’m Hannah Beam.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) For Syracuse women’s soccer transfer Emery Streets, entering the transfer portal meant searching for a better fit, not leaving something behind.
“I think the transfer portal gives athletes the opportunity to find where they truly belong,” Emery said. “It helps people find the right environment for them academically and athletically.”
Across Division I athletics, more athletes are making that same decision each year.
According to the NCAA Transfer Portal dashboard, more than 14,600 undergraduate athletes transferred to another NCAA school in 2025, up from 9,760 in 2023, showing a steady increase in player movement across college sports.
For athletes like Emery, those numbers represent opportunity. But for fans, they can change how teams feel from season to season.
Longtime Syracuse super-fan Tony DiNicola, known around campus as the Syracuse Waterboy, said roster turnover makes it harder to build the same connections with players.
“I think the transfer portal has had a major impact as fans don’t seem as connected with players,” he said. “Each year seems like it’s completely a brand new team.”
Tony said growing up attending games helped shape his lifelong connection to Syracuse athletics.
“My grandfather would take me to football and basketball games,” he said. “When his health started to decline, he’d drop me off outside the Dome and pick me up after games.”
Now, he says that kind of long-term familiarity with players is harder to maintain.
Student sections are adjusting, too.
“Every year the fans have to re-fall in love with the team,” Lavella said, “and I think it honestly makes fans have a hard time connecting with the team.”
Otto’s Army president, Andrew Lavella, said students are learning to support Syracuse teams differently as rosters change more frequently.
Despite that shift, he said school identity continues to drive student attendance and energy inside the Dome. The transfer portal itself has grown rapidly across Division I sports.
Between 2019 and 2024, the number of Division I athletes entering the portal nearly doubled from about 13,600 to more than 24,000 athletes, with women’s basketball portal entries increasing by 132 percent during that time.
NCAA data also shows that about 64 percent of Division I athletes who entered the portal in 2025 successfully transferred to another NCAA school, while 29 percent remained active in the portal, exploring options.
For many athletes, the portal is now a normal part of the college sports experience. The NCAA began allowing athletes in major sports to transfer once without sitting out a season in 2021 and expanded transfer flexibility further in 2024, accelerating movement between programs nationwide. That flexibility has helped athletes like Emery find new opportunities.
“I think transferring helped me find a place where I can grow more as both a player and a person,” she said.
But for fans like Tony, the change has reshaped expectations of what following a college team looks like.
“I used to feel like student-athletes shouldn’t be criticized as much because they were unpaid amateurs,” he said. “Now some are making more money than I’ll see in a decade, so expectations have changed.”
Still, he believes schools can strengthen fan loyalty even in the transfer portal era.
“I’ve been arguing for years that kids 12 and under should have cheaper tickets,” he said. “Get kids hooked early and you create lifelong fans.”
As college sports continue evolving, athletes, students and fans alike are adjusting to what it means to support teams in a new era of movement.
For longtime Syracuse fans, part of the college sports experience used to be watching players grow over several seasons. Now, with more athletes entering the transfer portal each year, many say they’re getting used to learning a new roster almost every season.