I think football hangs around as long as they are a funding source for the rest of the athletic department. With the pending change of forcing colleges to start bidding on players via paying them for their likeness then BYU football and basketball are going to fall even farther in a hurry. Just imagine when the best players BYU tries to sign have to choose between playing at BYU for scholarship only benefits or going to Utah/BSU/USU for a scholarship and a paycheck. Throw in P5 level money and suddenly even BYU's olympic sports athletes will be better compensated going to Utah to run/swin/play soccer. If the profits from football drop enough that the athletic department stops being self-sufficient then BYU could end up just like BYU-I and turn sports off completely.

I think there are powerful members of the BYU leadership who would see that as a desirable goal.