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
Everything below is the school’s own filed figures for 2024-25, read against the 131 programs it is grouped with.
Paying the full $21.3M revenue-sharing cap for 2026-27 would take 63.2% of everything this department took in. The cap is a ceiling on what a school may pay its athletes directly, not a spending figure and not an obligation, and third-party name, image and likeness money is uncapped and does not count against it. At that share of revenue the number measures the size of the program rather than a competitive gap. Schools outside the four conferences bound by the settlement opted in to keep the option open, not because they intend to spend anywhere near the ceiling.
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.
What each sport brought in, what it cost, and how many athletes it carried.
| 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 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, sit in the department totals above and not in this table, so these rows do not add to those totals. Sort by any column.
The organization we have verified as funding this program, and what its own tax return says 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. School name 'montana state university'; athletics/NIL language in the 990 mission; same city (Bozeman).
Three things that change how the figures above should be read.
The revenue-sharing cap is a ceiling on what a school may pay its athletes directly ($20.5M for 2025-26, $21.3M for 2026-27), not a spending figure and not an obligation. Third-party NIL is uncapped and does not count against it. No federal athletics survey covers a revenue-sharing year yet; the first lands 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. It is a federal filing obligation rather than a public-records request, which is why it covers private universities that the NCAA-based databases cannot reach. The figures are the school’s own reported numbers for 2024-25, not audited by the Department of Education. Reported revenue includes direct institutional support and student fees, so every department in the survey reports revenue at least matching its expenses. A surplus here is not 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. There is also no single donor-money line on the form: some organizations book donor money as contributions, others as program service revenue or fees for services, which is why total revenue leads.
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.
This page is what the public record gives up for free. Civly Athletics vets the athlete, and Collective Prospecting finds and qualifies the donors behind a collective, each name traced to a filing or a public post.