There was not “the guy” who funded Eddie. While he may have had some individual business deals, the bulk of his payments went through SU’s collective(s).
Beyond the fundraising purpose of an established collective, having all payments orchestrated organizationally to ensure proper reporting, including tax reporting, benefits the donor, the athlete and the program. And yes, doing these things properly will incur administrative costs. Whether those costs are explicit by contract or implicit, absorbed or buried in ledgers of the payer, is somewhat immaterial.
So if SU is telling mega donors they expect NIL contributions to go through a collective rather than being handled outside a system there is a method to their perceived madness.
And, by the way, the INFLCR exchange still appears to be active, so if a donor wants to bypass the collectives and transact directly with an athlete while being systematically vetted by SUAD Compliance, there is a process.