The thing with this is that it will take a HUGE amount of money to do this, unless you’re suggesting they’ll replace them with new unpaid moderators that are pro-being abused for free labor.
If that’s the case, the quality of those subreddits will tank fast because there’s no way they’ll replace the existing mods with ones as motivated or as experienced as the ones already there.
As much as people love to mock Subreddit Moderators, there’s a definite learned skill to doing it well and keeping a community thriving. That’s not going to be something easily replaced.
They just opened up after the two days were over, like how many of them planned. Not every sub agreed to stay dark indefinitely.