Sorry. Late to the show. Lots of comments have been made about financing the BYU football team not being the same as financing City Creek because there is no clear or guaranteed ROI for athletics. But that begs the question: if a monetary ROI is the ultimate goal for investment of Church funds, what is the Church's ROI for running BYU in the first place? Surely, the Church could save money by allowing members to earn degrees elsewhere. I think the overlooked consideration is an intangible ROI, and it's spiritual in nature.

Are there possible non-monetary ROIs that could come out of an investment in BYU's athletic programs? And if so, is it possible that they could coincide with the very same considerations that the Church considers so important in spending significant amounts of money to run its schools in the first place? Personally, I think that serious arguments could be made that in the Church's view of the role of BYU athletics in its post-secondary education scheme is one of creating a school where young members from all walks of life will want to come after high school--especially those young people who might be interested in a more typical college experience.