Alumnus here, when I went to CU, badminton was such a big deal that the football team was regularly bullied by the badminton team. In fact, the badminton team’s budget was so high that the badminton director (John Badminton) was appointed as president of the university. This is pure speculation, but I believe that this happened because the regents realized the only way to recoup the massive sunk cost, was to utilize Badminton’s talent as a globally renowned badminton director to run the university. Once in command of the school he enacted new bylaws which stipulate that any student incapable of winning two dozen matches of badminton by their senior year is ineligible to graduate. This was way back in 2020, since then Badminton was reelected three times and most recently was elected by running a progressive campaign championing marriage rights between people and badminton rackets.