MISSOULA, Mont. — The University of Montana is changing course and will opt in this year to the settlement stemming from the House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit.
The recent settlement means college athletic programs across the country are free to start paying millions to their athletes in one of the biggest changes in the history of American sports. The deadline for schools around the country to opt out was Monday.
Montana was originally planning to opt in during the 2026-27 academic year. The school this week explained that it switched after rosters were grandfathered into the final approved settlement so that roster cuts weren’t necessary.
Athletic director Kent Haslam told MTN Sports the “initial settlement had no provision for accommodating roster limits through what’s now called ‘designated student-athletes.’ But as it unfolded, there was an opportunity to preserve our (current) roster limits by grandfathering in your current squad sizes. That completely changed our mindset.”
The settlement means schools will be able to make payments to athletes for use of their name, image and likeness. A handful of schools have decided to wait it out at least a year to see how things develop, including legal risks and Title IX concerns.
The Ivy League said in January that its eight schools — which do not award athletic scholarships — will not participate. Military rules prevent the programs at service academies Air Force, Army and Navy from compensating athletes through NIL deals. Alongside those 11 schools, though, are others choosing to watch the settlement unfold from the sidelines during year one.
Montana and Nebraska-Omaha were originally among the schools opting out. Montana rival Montana State has opted in, raising the recruiting stakes for two programs that are often among the best teams in the Football Championship Subdivision, the lower tier of NCAA Division I.
Haslam told MTN Sports: “Everything surrounding the House settlement we were ready for. We were excited for everything around revenue sharing and scholarship and financial and how that’s restructured. The hesitancy was around roster limits, and once that got resolved and we could make sure that we were ready to do it, we opted in.”