Picking up the option year was a complete no-brainer; 2019 includes BYU home games (in other words, the inventory ESPN is buying) against USC, Washington, Utah, and Boise. ESPN is definitely getting a bargain in 2019. The question is how post-2019 home schedules will look when ESPN is deciding what to do next time around. It will presumably look better than it did when BYU first signed the ESPN deal, but ESPN also isn't making as much as it was then, either, so those factors will presumably cancel out at least somewhat. Also, ESPN presumably knows that it has pretty good leverage with BYU. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.