There was actually a thread started up recently on that subject:
As you surmised, there’s no clear answer. My initial thought is “if portions of the athletic department weren’t serving as a net gain to the university, they’d be cut in this sort of circumstance”.
But these answers are never easy, or black and white. There are short- and long-term ramifications for all of these decisions, and I’ve never served in a university’s financial department.