While BYU football is fantastic, and while I would enjoy all of the great things it would do for my fandom, it is a peripheral issue and not the best selling point for those that actually make decisions.

As I see it, the most important factor is giving more people the opportunity to experience BYU in the spiritual sense during an especially precarious portion of their lives. At the same time, they are able to obtain solid employment upon leaving. Additionally, for most of these people, they will meet and marry someone that has a strong testimony of the gospel.

I recognize that all those advantages can be had away from BYU. However, to deny the strength and power the comes from the educated families that are made at and come out of BYU would be short sighted. This is especially important with a younger generation that seems to be struggling to maintain the faith more than past generations.

Academically, doubling enrollment would have a minimal effect on the average GPA/ACT and while some of the overall academic prowess would decrease, it likely wouldn't be enough to impact BYU. This is because BYU, due to its Mormon religious nature, will never become a Stanford, Harvard, etc. that academia reverences. Rather, I see the high end for BYU much more like a University of Texas (but with a Mormon aspect). A huge school, with huge influence, that is respected but not revered.