No I don't think that's the argument. If ISU had success in football I think FAR fewer people would want the program cut.
It's that they lose money, they're expensive, and they're historically terrible.
And considering that the NCAA scholarship cap for Men's Track + Field + XC is 12.6, I'm sure part of those costs are defrayed by tuition money that the student athletes are paying to attend. You also can't cut the Women's program because of Title IX. If the total track, field, and XC budget was 1/10th of the football budget I'd be shocked.