Bozeman, Montana · Football Championship Subdivision · public university. Montana State University reported $33.7M of athletic revenue in 2024-25 against $32.9M of expenses. That is 1.4 times the $23.8M median for the 131 Football Championship Subdivision programs, and it ranks 38th of 131 in the FCS and 175th of 358 across Division I. Revenue rose 17.8% on the prior year’s $28.6M.
Analysis by Matthew Hanauer, PhD, Chief Technology Officer at Civly · All 358 Division I schools
All figures come from the school’s own filings for 2024-25 and are compared with the 131 programs in its group.
Paying the full $21.3M revenue-sharing cap for 2026-27 would take 63.2% of this department’s revenue. The cap is the most a school may pay its athletes directly, and no school is required to pay it. Third-party name, image and likeness money is uncapped and does not count against it. At that share of revenue, the percentage mainly reflects the program’s size. Schools outside the four conferences bound by the settlement opted in to keep the option open. Opting in does not commit a school to any level of spending.
313 athletes were counted at the school in the survey year, filling 245 men’s and 189 women’s roster spots across 7 sports. The two counts differ because an athlete who plays two sports fills a spot in both. Enrollment is 12,884. Football is the largest single line, $14.9M of revenue against $10.1M of expenses, which is 44% of what the department earned.
Each row shows one sport’s revenue, expenses and athletes.
| Sport | Revenue | Expenses | Net | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Football | $14.9M | $10.1M | +$4.7M | 114 | 0 |
| Basketball | $4.4M | $5.2M | −$802k | 16 | 15 |
| Track and Field and Cross Country (combined) | $2.1M | $2.2M | −$158k | 93 | 123 |
| Skiing | $1.2M | $1.4M | −$177k | 13 | 15 |
| Volleyball | $950k | $1.2M | −$208k | 0 | 19 |
| Tennis | $901k | $1.1M | −$194k | 9 | 9 |
| Golf | $610k | $684k | −$74k | 0 | 8 |
The table shows the 7 sports at Montana State University that reported money or participants in 2024-25. Sports the school surveyed but left empty are not shown. Revenue and expenses attributed to no single sport, which at most departments is the larger share of both, are counted only in the department totals above, so these rows do not add to those totals. Sort by any column.
We have verified one organization as funding this program. Its tax return reports what it raised.
“The Bobcat Club Supports the Montana State University Athletics Department By Providing Funds for the Athletic Scholarship Fund. These Funds Are Raised Through Events That Are Held Throughout the State of Montana, Online Events, and Through Funds Generated Through the Purchase and Renewal of the Bobcat Club License Plate with the State of Montana.”
The link to Montana State University comes from the school’s own name inside this organization’s filed name, plus its registration in the same state. Its 990 mission uses athletics or NIL language, and it is based in Bozeman.
The revenue-sharing cap is the most a school may pay its athletes directly: $20.5M for 2025-26 and $21.3M for 2026-27. No school is required to pay it. Third-party NIL money is uncapped and does not count against it. No federal athletics survey covers a revenue-sharing year yet. The first is expected around spring 2027.
Every college that takes federal student aid and fields a team files this survey each year under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act. Because filing is a federal requirement, the survey covers private universities that NCAA-based databases do not include. The figures are the school’s own reported numbers for 2024-25, and the Department of Education does not audit them. Reported revenue includes direct institutional support and student fees, so every department in the survey reports revenue at least equal to its expenses, and a reported surplus does not mean a profit.
A Form 990 shows what an organization raised. It never shows what any athlete was paid. No figure in the funder section is anyone’s compensation or the value of any deal. The form has no single donor-money line. Some organizations book donor money as contributions and others as program service revenue or fees for services, so each funder card lists total revenue first.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act survey, 2024-25; IRS Form 990 e-file releases for donor entities. Analysis: Civly.
Civly Athletics vets athletes. Collective Prospecting finds and qualifies the donors behind a collective and traces each name to a filing or a public post.