The first sentence is correct. Indirect action is often far better than direct action, because multiplicities can occur. A valid question, one that I believe the VT athletic office has already taken into account. With any university's athletic program, loyalty is NOT a two-way street. Pay-up or seeya sucker.
Money is a store of value, a medium of exchange.
Some aspects of the university need money to continue, others need people present. This is life, the way it was back then and now. Nothing has changed, except that now you seem to place a much lower value on non-monetary goods. College football is pageantry. I agree with that wholeheartedly.