The NCAA will no longer maintain sport-specific scholarship limits, as its Division I Board of Directors on Monday formally adopted new roster limit rules to align with the recently approved House settlement. The changes go into effect July 1.

All schools that opt into the House settlement will, in turn, be allowed to award scholarships to as many players as they wish as their teams fall in line with the roster size caps outlined in the settlement. Football, for example, will have a roster cap of 105 players.

The NCAA says this change will dramatically increase the number of available scholarships and will more than double the previous total offered to women.

“With the court’s approval of the House settlement, college sports are entering a new era of increased benefits for college athletes,” said Virginia Tech president Tim Sands, chair of the board. “Today’s vote to codify the roster provisions of the settlement formally removes limits on scholarships for schools that opt in, dramatically increasing the potential available scholarships for student-athletes across all sports in Division I.”

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Under the new college sports model, which paves the way for revenue-sharing from the university to athletes, roster sizes across all sports are in flux. College football teams will shrink to a maximum of 105 players, but each player inside that number can receive a scholarship. That contrasts with the previous NCAA model, which capped scholarships at 85 per team but allowed programs to carry a bevy of walk-ons to fill out their rosters.

Importantly, the NCAA’s new roster limit rules include legislated exemptions for current athletes with remaining eligibility, ensuring they will not lose their roster spots if their teams must constrict to fall within the House settlement’s outlined roster sizes. This, in effect, “grandfathers” them in while schools adapt over time to the new regulations.

That point was a primary holdup in the House settlement’s approval. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken, who presided over the case, delayed the approval multiple times over concerns with the roster limit implementation. The settlement’s roster limits were expected to lead schools to cut nearly 5,000 athletes from rosters, and many programs had already begun the process before the judge issued her final approval.

The House settlement approval is a landmark moment in college sports history and ushers in an unprecedented era wherein schools can directly pay their players. The $2.8 billion, 10-year settlement will also pay past players for missed name, image and likeness opportunities and ensure current and future players will have access to legitimate NIL contracts. Schools can share as much as $20.5 million of their revenue with players during the upcoming academic year, and the new NIL Go clearinghouse will approve additional financial deals for student-athletes.