Hope Gee does support BYU, and he might be quietly doing so, or not.

But your comment that Gee supports BYU is misleading for there is no such indication in this article except the writer's stereotypical assumption that Gee is Mormon (however estranged), and raised in Utah, so of course he would support BYU.

On the other hand, what we can learn from the article is that the selection will not be made on the basis of finance and athletics alone:

"But I want to make sure we get the right teams with the right cultures. If there’s 12, that’s great. If there’s 14, that’s great. But I want to make sure we do it right — and get the right group of people together.”

The "right culture" has been the dominant obstacle for BYU in the past, and was a killer for PAC 12 inclusion. If the decision were to be made entirely on the basis of athletic competence, finance, and contribution to a future TV deal, BYU would have been in the PAC 12 30 years ago.

My view is they can only turn their back on us for so long. The Church is 4 times larger than it was in 1984. Now membership is up to 15 million and growing. Our strength is in continued growth. I'd like to see BYU double its student enrollment over the next decade. Let tuition rise at double the rate of inflation to offset the cost.

As Nixon had to accept the reality of China, great universities will one day have to embrace the reality that Mormons are among the most educated, and a great and influential American and global subculture, who can no longer be ignored.

Let BYU continue to do what it does well, and our children will continue to attend, and then go forth to serve in an increasingly important way. At some point LDS contributions will become so obviously significant, the elite higher education power structure will be forced to deal with us.