Just making up numbers assume the deal was $5 million a year but ESPN knew they had $3 million in costs for the contracted games. Instead BYU handles the production so maybe the deal is $7.5 million a year and they hold back $500k for on-air talent and travel, the remaining $2.5 million was added to BYU's top line. In that case it doesn't save them anything but it changes how we value the BYU contract versus the rest of the contracts that keep costs in them.

It is hard to get an apples to apples comparison.