ESPN could have tried to renegotiate the deal rather than exercise their option but they didn't. That's because BYU is very cheap compared to what they pay for other teams. Think about it. The Utes play six home games a year and for that ESPN/FOX pays them roughly 15 million whether or not it shows any of those and regardless of what network it shows them on.

BYU gets paid per game, based on network, so profitability is always good, which is harder when you pay a flat rate not knowing what you're getting. If every game were shown on ESPN or ABC BYU would only get 12m.

So we're a HUGE bargain.

It's true that they don't make as much money as they once did. It is not true that they are suddenly going to stop showing college football. As long as they're going to show college football they are going to be very interested in teams that they can get at a discount compared to what they pay for a comparable program elsewhere. BYU is heavily heavily discounted. I expect that they will do a new contract with a slight increase in pay.