The church spent 3B on a mall, but that money isn't gone, it is an asset, fully paid for no less. I'll oversimplify things here but the church isnt worth $3B less, they are worth, at least, the same.

So the long term value of City Creek is $3B plus whatever they make, plus appreciation of their assets.

BYU Athletics may generate some cash (dwarfed by the assets and cash of all their other holdings) but it doesn't appreciate in value, the investments in buildings and infrastructure can't be sold at a future point or anything else.

As long as you are a non-P5 school there is no justifying major expenses above and beyond what you are doing.

In fact learning about the history of BYU and Wilkinson's vision for church owned schools and what the church ended up doing (which was quite the opposite of what he wanted) and you'll have your answer in the church's interest in massive expansion of athletic spending. Not tenable and not gonna happen.

Few things surprise me and I could be very wrong, but I would be genuinely surprised if the church did. President Worthen's comments about the professionalization of college sports should indicate the appetite for this.