Why a rising mid-major power with an NCAA Tournament team opted out of revenue-sharing -- and advertised it

The June 30 deadline for schools to opt in to the terms of the House v. NCAA settlement came and went with hardly a peep from many of the reported 18% of Division I schools that are opting out of revenue-sharing for the 2025-26 academic year.

To some, opting out might be interpreted as a white flag of surrender entering a new era of Division 1 athletics. Why advertise it in a line-by-line press release?

At Nebraska-Omaha, athletic director Adrian Dowell took a different approach, standing tall in opting out -- for now -- as part of a long-term plan that began over a year ago for a mid-major department on the rise.

"UNO, we've always taken pride in being independent," Dowell told CBS Sports. "We're not going to copy and paste and just do things because other schools are doing it. We're not in this for PR wins. And, to be honest, if we weren't all in on the future of this settlement and eventually opting in, we probably wouldn't have taken the steps we've taken."

The Mavericks are coming off their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in men's basketball and have a strong nucleus of players returning. They also boast a nationally competitive men's hockey program. But even with most of its Summit League peers opting in, Omaha is taking a meticulously planned, contrarian stance for year one of the House era.

"We weren't going to win one more game by opting in for this upcoming year," Dowell said.

As the Mavericks eye an eventual opt-in, they are moving forward with 2025-26 rosters built under the old structure that permitted players to sign third-party NIL agreements unscrutinized by the new College Sports Commission until July 1.

"There were no issues with NIL that limited us in what we wanted to do and what we needed to go get," Omaha basketball coach Chris Crutchfield told CBS Sports. "Everything stayed status quo for us."

Next year could look significantly different as the settlement's terms take hold, especially if all third-party NIL deals over $600 are truly vetted for their legitimacy by the College Sports Commission. Omaha may have little choice but to quickly hop on board the revenue-sharing train ahead of the 2026-27 year.

But as the dust settles on a landmark court ruling that is reshaping college sports, the Mavericks are positioning themselves for future-revenue sharing while riding out the immediate aftermath of the House settlement as an interested observer rather than a guinea pig.

Some schools aim to avoid unintended consequences

Part of Dowell's three-year plan entails Omaha going all-in on what was allowed in the pre-settlement era. That means dishing out more cost-of-attendance stipends and Alston awards on top of funding more scholarships across the department. The third-party Omaha Bull Market Collective also remains active at a time when many athletic departments are consolidating their NIL efforts in house.

"For us, it was 'let's jog before we sprint'," Dowell said. "Let's maximize what we can do before jumping deep in the ocean. Let's go generate the resources to do it. So for us, it was just a better play to maximize those current opportunities with financial aid before we eventually opt in to the terms of the settlement."

In the meantime, Dowell encouraged Omaha's coaches to begin pushing their roster numbers closer to the limits for programs that are opting in. The gradual roster tweaks are allowing the Mavericks to avoid the enrollment and Title IX numbers limbo associated with predicting the fate of designated student-athletes for programs that are opting in.

For other non-FBS schools opting out, university enrollment emerged as a significant factor in the rationale. The House settlement terms cap football rosters at 105 players, all of whom are permitted to be on scholarship. Those who opt out can only put 85 on scholarship, but there is no firm cap on the total number of players they can have on their roster.

That means schools opting out can continue to carry football rosters of 130 or more players, many of whom are walk-ons paying sorely needed tuition dollars while keeping classroom seats full. As Central Arkansas athletic director Matt Whiting told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, opting in would have required the Bears to reduce "by a significant amount" the number of athletes in the UCA department.

"It really seems to be counterintuitive to the mission of what the university is trying to do on the enrollment front," Whiting said. "So we feel really the roster limitations piece is the piece that's kind of tough to get around if you opt in."

But every situation is different. The Mavericks don't have a football program and don't have to worry as much about how eventually opting in may impact their university enrollment numbers.

However, concerns remain over potential Title IX issues (the majority of revenue-sharing dollars are expected to be funneled to male athletes), which could make participating schools subject to litigation. Then, there is the potential impact on foreign players as well.

With a hockey roster composed largely of international athletes, Omaha is content to let others test the waters of direct school-to-player compensation first.

"There's a lot of dust that needs to settle," Dowell said. "There are some schools that are going to pioneer this first, and we're going to see what works and what doesn't work. There was a huge rush, really via collective funds, to find those NIL opportunities for international student-athletes, not only before they were subject to screening, but also you were able to do it before entering into this revenue-sharing where cash is being infused through the universities to international student-athletes. There are a lot of questions regarding the impact on visa status with that."

Omaha basketball program did not need rev-share boost

On the basketball side, the Mavericks are riding the momentum of a trash can-demolishing surge to the program's first-ever Summit League title. Omaha lost its top two scorers to the portal but is returning four players with starting experience from last season, which has Crutchfield's squad registering at No. 2 in the conference in Bart Torvik's preseason ratings.

If there are any ill-effects of the athletic department's Year 1 House opt out, there's no indication that they'll be appearing on the hardwood, even as most other Summit League schools have signaled their intent to opt-in.

"We have a good recruiting class and we got it done earlier than we've ever gotten it done," Crutchfield said. "Part of that was just because of the notoriety we got and the publicity we got from being in the tournament, and of course the trash can deal. So we were able to kind of pick what we wanted, went after them, got them on campus and they committed and signed."

The Ivy League, service academies and low-budget Division I programs comprise a significant chunk of the 18% of Division I programs who did not opt in to the House settlement.

Nebraska-Omaha doesn't fit into any of those categories. While the Mavericks' athletic budget is slim in comparison to Power Four programs, the Mavericks are in the middle of the pack among all Division I schools and in the upper half of the Summit League, according to USA Today's most-recent revenue breakdown.

Omaha has a larger budget -- according to USA Today's database -- than every program in the Horizon League, where every program is opting in.

But the Mavericks also have a plan: jog before sprinting, don't cave to peer pressure and position yourself to hang banners over the long haul.

"I don't think you're going to win any championships just based on a one-year decision," Dowell said. "I think it's about putting a strategic plan together to really take advantage of this opportunity. Even though we're opting out in year one, we want to make sure that, if and when we do opt in, we really take advantage and maximize our opportunities to put our student-athletes in position to keep having the success they're having."