How to Fund Research at a University?

At this point in my life, ne i very much enjoy the teaching aspect. But to day, i think it's harder to find places where people can work on whatever they want without any real immediate concern for whether is that going to pay off. I hear these stories about like, 18 t balabs and three yamnd from the 60 seventies and eighties. And i feel like the environment, like pure research for research sake, just doesn't exist in the same way as tai used to.