Jun. 27—GRAND FORKS — The UND athletic department officially announced Friday afternoon the university would opt in to the NCAA vs. House settlement, a landmark legal case paving the way for direct payments from schools to athletes.
UND athletic director Bill Chaves said UND communicated its intent to opt in with the NCAA on Friday, June 27.
“As an NCAA Division I member, in a non-defendant conference, our thought process has always been to do what is best for our student-athletes and the University of North Dakota,” Chaves said. “With the information that we have today and the requirement to make a decision by Monday, June 30, we felt that this was the most prudent course of action. There was always a chance that when the final settlement occurred that it could be different than what was initially provided by both the plaintiffs’ and defendants’ attorneys and sure enough that was the case.”
The country’s largest schools, those competing in the power conferences such as the Big Ten, must opt in to the House settlement. UND, however, is among those smaller NCAA departments around the country mulling the decision on whether to join the settlement.
Prior to UND’s decision, South Dakota and South Dakota State announced intentions to opt in to House vs. NCAA. North Dakota State has yet to announce a decision with a June 30 deadline.
Chaves told the Herald on June 11 the university was leaning toward opting in after concerns about roster sizes were eased with the ruling’s last-minute language on grandfathering-in athletes impacted by the ruling.
“Given that roster grandfathering can only occur should institutions opt in at this moment of time, we believe that opting in is best for UND,” Chaves said. “Additionally, I believe the opportunity to expand our partnership with our teammates at the UND Alumni Association & Foundation, 1883 Collective and Ralph Engelstad Arena will provide us the best situation possible to our student-athletes this year and beyond. Further, the ability to potentially provide additional support through internal NIL will be intriguing for UND as we traverse this new era of college athletics.”
Roster sizes were an issue because the House settlement calls for a change from scholarship maximums to roster maximums. The terms of the settlement set a roster cap on each sport.
On Feb. 20, 2025, the Herald reported UND would opt out of the settlement in Year 1, with the possibility of opting in later. That stance changed in large part due to the grandfathering-in of impacted athletes.
UND is over the House-capped roster sizes in women’s track and field, softball, soccer and women’s golf. If the settlement had continued as originally depicted, UND would have likely had to cut athletes out of those sports immediately, potentially causing participation numbers to be non-Title IX compliant.
UND is at or under the roster limit in its men’s sports except for hockey, where the midseason addition of emergency goalie Aleksi Huson put UND at 27 players. The House settlement limits men’s hockey teams to 26.
Prior to the case being finalized, Yahoo Sports estimated more than 15,000 athletes across all Division I members could be cut, depending on how many schools opt in to the settlement.
The schools are instructed to use “good-faith efforts” to identify athletes who “were removed or would have been removed from the roster for 2025-26 due to the implementation of the roster limits.”
Those individuals won’t count toward roster limits for the rest of their eligibility. The guideline applies to current athletes, as well as incoming recruits. Schools have until July 6 to identify these athletes.