Program cuts at state university athletics depts have a lot more to do with cuts in state funding than cost incurred by FB/Basketball. States have been slashing university funding across the country, in response administration is increasing tuition and making cuts across the board to all university depts. Since athletics is the only dept that funds scholarships with their own revenue (aka student athletic fees) they get hit twice as hard by these cuts because they need to cover the increase in scholarship cost and the cuts to their university funding. In response athletics administration has to make some tough strategic decisions. This is also why you see insane athletic fees at low tier D1 schools. What I find interesting about UNM is that it seems like they still have a lot of fat left to cut before making program cuts (travel, free clothing, fancy facilities), however this could just be a result of excellent donors.
As time goes on you'll be seeing this happen more and more, and even some lower tier programs cannibalizing themselves into Division 3.