Jasen777
Donor
Once US Universities figured out that sport - most often American football, and secondarily basketball were cash-cows creating revenue up the wazoo, it was "game-over" (pun intended). There's some schools that either would not exist today, or would be much smaller institutions. It has become the proverbial cart before the horse.
Top Athletic Budgets in NCAA - 2014
Only 20 schools make money off sports, and that includes fees students pay. Sure some universities would be less popular and others more so, but as a group they'd be fine without sports (or without "money making" sports).
edit: and as others have said the '50s are too late and the stopping the Roosevelt era reforms is the best chance of stopping football.