Not that difficult to support his assertions... analyze the CAFI Database, and take a look at the debt and debt services some of these D1 schools carry some huge debt, for instance, JMU is $54M in debt, and they are paying $6M in debt services every year... couple that with financing all of that through student debt, and you have the D1 athletic budget equivalent of a Walmart cashier driving a corvette.
NDSU carries a little or no debt and no debt services... that means ticket revenue goes directly into the athletic budget -- rather than using it to pay on their debt
BOTTOM LINE: A football only FBS Conference Invite is not that difficult to support financially... add some scholarships, and plus up the FB coaching budget and some other parts of the FB budget (maybe recruiting).
I took a shot at comparing numbers (G5 vs NDSU vs semi-serious FCS programs) and came up with this:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing