Provo sits at 4,500 feet. Top schools (many Pac 12 schools) go to Colorado for winter training because of the altitude. BYU would be able to offer smaller schools to ability to come for training trips over fall and winter breaks (the trips themselves cost a ton of money). They would be able to expand their camps to make more of a profit.

There is money to be made in swimming- the problem is that too many people don't care, and don't want to analyze it. Does it cost a lot to run? Yes, but you can offset that by the following:

Fundraising (BYU officials say no)
Donations (BYU officials say no)
Camps (currently do this)
Training camps (could do this)
Rent out space to Local Club teams (could do this) Provo is rated as a Top 50 Swim City by USA Swimming in terms of growth and there are 2 pools (Provo and Springville) in which the club here swims in...

The coaching staff has done a lot to save the program money in hopes that would show them they were willing to sacrifice for this. The problem is that BYU officials told them they were building it- so they started using it as a recruiting tool