The Alumni/Donors wanted independence.

The big money always came from donations - not what the football team made. The football team needed to make enough to pay for itself and all the other sports. When we needed to do a facility upgrade, we simply got the money from donors.

However, with NIL - donors are now giving some there also to secure athletes to come to ND. That reduces the revenue streams. ND has decided that is only going to amplify in the next years and spread across other sports. They need to be more aggressive with income and this is the way to do it. The donors understand that and have for the first time signed on to going to a conference....