fees. If you added a $500/year student activity fee to the cost of tuition, that would generate an additional $15 million/year for the athletic department. The BOT doesn't want to tick off and alienate a very large number of tithe payers who hate BYU for whatever reason. Those people would never support the church giving a large chunk of money to BYU, and that seems to be the least likely solution.

Given that BYU's AD revenues are around $75 million/year and Utah's are around $90 million (which includes $12 Million/year from Utah state taxpayers), an extra $15 million would put BYU's revenue on par with Utah's. After new media contracts are negotiated, BYU's revenue could surpass Utah's.

There are a number of reasons why this would be a better solution:
- More palatable for church members without ties to BYU, which is an ever-increasing number.
- Some BYU students/parents would complain, but there would be a negligible impact on applications.
- BYU tuition is already very much subsidized by the LDS church, so students should be okay with paying a little more.
- Guaranteed source of income for the athletic department.
- Providing free tickets to students in exchange for the increased fees would improve attendance for basketball and football.

The difference of $15 million/year would be significant. With that much money, BYU could afford to pay experienced head coaches like Bronco and KW, coordinators like Anae, Scalley, and Lance Anderson, and not have to settle for taking chances on up-and-coming coaching prospects like KS was.

To me, this seems to be the most reasonable solution. It would still require BOT support of BYU athletics, but in a more indirect way than the church just throwing money to the athletic department.