Historically - I'd heard whispers that donors wanted to direct where their donations would go. In the past CougarClub was the main channel for fundraising. CougarClub worked with the University to where their donations would go. The University would determine that they wanted to steer the funds in an equitable manner across the sports that BYU sponsored. I think that whole premise changed with the advent of NIL. Now with the Royal Blue Collective - donors can say where they want the NIL donations to go. This almost seems like has opened up the floodgates of donors who have been frustrated in the past about where their money could be spent. So now we have this pent-up desire to boost the basketball team (and maybe others) and as a result we are now a Top-15 NIL university.

That's my theory. Other thoughts?