In the era of collegiate athletics, money is almost everything, either from boosters, or via sponsorship or television deals, whether you like it or not. How you deal with massive cash flows for both football and basketball programs is the biggest litmus test to how universities are handling the dollars involved.
For Kansas, the historical tradition has been basketball first. There has been the odd year when Kansas football has soared pass expectations, but the Jayhawks will always have an unshakable "basketball first" imaginary tag assigned to their name. Yet, Kansas is pushing to even the score between football and basketball.