The presidents absolutely care about athletics revenue.

Nearly every Pac 12 member has undergone extensive facility upgrades since Hale left the BYU AD. The upgrades have been paid for by general obligation bonds that are backed by the general funds of the universities. Repaying these bonds is absolutely the responsibility of the university, not just the AD. Cal alone has a half billion dollars in bonds that it must pay off. The Chancellor at Berkeley is completely in the loop about athletics finances and it is a major issue.

As for Hales contacts, I am sure they were once great. However, I am reasonably sure he never met with any of the Pac 12 presidents--especially the presidents who he accuses of disliking BYU. Even if he had, nearly every President has been replaced since Hale left. In addition, almost all of the AD's that Hale worked with are gone.

In short, while Hale has more info than most, his info is stale. He is not the end all be all as the OP suggests. The Pac may never include BYU, but I doubt Hale has much inside knowledge about the current inner workings of the conference.

Personally, I could see the Pac agreeing to bring on BYU if the conference expanded to 16 and BYU remained in a different division than the west coast schools. Cal, Stanford, UW, and UCLA have little in common academically with the Arizona schools and Utah anyway. They could maintain their identity through a Pac 8 division and let the eastern schools consist of something different.