back in early 2000s. This is what everyone was referring to when they said BYU had plans for a 50 meter pool. They had 'unofficial' plans prepared (paid a pretty penny for them too). Coaches used these plans in recruiting.

When it came time to actually go through the plans, something magically always came up. Finally, the AD office was told, as soon as the Marriott Center and Annex were renovated and built, the pool was next.

The problem after that- the leader at that time allegedly changed his tune and became defensive. This was after he got in a lot of trouble regarding the science building construction he signed off on and pushed for. He overspent by a lot (checked my notes from that time- spent about 14 million more than what was budgeted).

It was never an issue of money, but an issue of overspending and overcorrecting on BYUs part. The then BYU President didn't want to sign off on a 25 million dollar renovation due to what he had just gotten in trouble for (even though funds had been ear marked over a decade before that... the change to Worthen happened shortly thereafter).

The new plans were going to save a lot of money. But as Rockhound has pointed out, by the time the crews got into the thick of construction, they realized the updating of Earthquake safety measures were going to cost BYU what it would have had they just expanded to 50 meters. Hindsight is 50/50.

In regards to fundraising. BYU allowed the program to fundraise for their new video boards. They raised enough money in about 1 week.