For nine-year head coach Kalani Sitake’s crew, it was priceless — but not as lucrative as it would have been if BYU wasn’t in a conference. Still, it provided the highest payout for a bowl in which BYU has been involved, a combined $9.8 million, according to USA Today. But half of that money doesn’t go to the Cougars, as was the case when BYU was a college football independent and got to keep all of its payout.

Seriously? Are you trying to make casual BYU fans, who don't know these details, get a little upset by saying "but not as lucrative as it would have been if BYU wasn't in a conference" and "But half of that money doesn't go to the Cougars, as was the case when BYU was a college football independent and got to keep all of its payout." If you're going to bring up Independence and revenue you might as well be more transparent about the financials between the two.

Then, later in the article he squeezes this paragraph in there to end it . . . completely out of the blue and not related to money/revenue:

Before the Alamo Bowl kicked off, BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff drew the ire of Arizona State fans and others when he boldly proclaimed the game to be “the people’s Big 12 championship.” Obviously, the real Big 12 championship game was played earlier in the month, with ASU crushing Iowa State 45-17 in Arlington, Texas.
However, the Alamo Bowl did draw a larger TV audience, as the Big 12 championship game drew 6.9 million viewers, some 1.1 million fewer than the BYU-Colorado game.

He obviously just wanted to link his previous article about the Retzlaff quote to draw more attention as it must've gotten a good amount of clicks.