Advertising costs money. What these sports do is give a school millions upon millions of dollars of advertising, for a “net drain” on their finances.
They get huge increases in name recognition and applications. This allows them to be more “selective”, increasing their rank in the “best colleges” lists, and charge more for tuition and room&board. College costs have outpaced inflation for decades.
Big Time College Sports is a differentiator, it makes these schools desirable, well worth the money they spend on it.
It’s only be worth it if it brings in more money than it costs. It doesn’t, it brings in less than it costs, and that’s the whole point. “Millions upon millions of dollars” of advertising is less than worthless if it doesn’t bring in at least millions upon millions of dollars in revenue.
It doesn’t bring in more Sports Money, it brings in more Student Money.
The P&L for the sports team doesn’t include the extra admissions, the growth of the school, the increases in tuition. Those are all positively impacted by a well known sports program.