I follow your logic here, and it's not wrong. The way college athletics work now, a single wealthy donor could, in theory, change a program's trajectory quite quickly.
But, I bet there's basically a direct correlation between a school/athletic department's ability to raise funds from alumni pre-NIL, and the likelihood of finding $20m** a year to compete with the well-funded programs.
It does not look seem like we have that sort of donor base. SMU does. But at least it creates a path?
** Worth noting that $20m is basically the floor if the NCAA revenue share plan goes through. So it requires raising 20m a year in perpetuity, or having the athletic department revenue that 22% adds up to $20m.
Right now, our revenue breakdown looks like this (source: Google AI summary, so you know):
-- Corporate sponsorship, advertising, and licensing: $1.29 million
-- Donor contributions: $2.02 million
-- Competition guarantees: $1.57 million
-- Conference/NCAA distributions, media rights, and post-season football: $4.01 million
-- Ticket sales: $1.24 million
-- Institutional/government support: $18.75 million
I assume the "institutional support" is basically student fees+.