I have rented a moving truck, yes it's not inexpensive I'll give you that. As for movers and venue, (going off my example) "Hey Northwestern, you want us to showcase your campus and college for the next 3 weeks to millions of people? How about giving us a deal on using your ampitheatre and use of your workers to unload and set up?" As for crew, I send the essential ones to the location and the rest I recruit from the local affiliates.
You seem to be missing the overarching point, which is "this all has SOME extra expense, which by definition is always more than NO extra expense, and for virtually no return on the investment." If I'm making budget cuts (or hell, just looking to maximize my profits, which is the job of any publicly-held company), that's the FIRST sort of expense that gets the axe.