Agreed. IMHO, we're witnessing basically a replay of what the CFA (College Football Association) was created for. That was to give colleges a voice from the NCAA choosing which few college teams get TV air time (read: TV money and publicity). The NCAA was limiting it to just a few times and just a few games, so there were only a few teams making the big bucks.
In 1981, the CFA agreed on a TV contract with CBS guaranteeing 2 TV slots per year to each participating school in the CFA (major conferences except Big 10 and Pac-10). The NCAA fought it all the way to SCOTUS and lost. Now each conference and each school can negotiate TV contracts.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the same play out today with schools avoiding trans freaks. Particularly with schools in red states that have banned it. (i.e. a lot of SEC schools may have no choice but to keep their female teams from playing teams with trans freaks, whether the NCAA likes it or not.)
Friend of mine works with the College World Series in Omaha and they were worried that since the city of Omaha built a stadium with a 25 year commitment from the CWS, there were concerns that if the NCAA were to fall, what would they do. This was about 10 years ago but it appears to me, college football is the driver.