Telnet is being used by the network admins to connect to the routers on the network (Please hold the boo's til the end). Having over 100 devices to change over to ssh and implement an authenication method will take a significant amount of time to coordinate with networking.....Y, because they are resisting the change........
Ok, now you have me confused.... Who runs the network, networking or the network admins? Why are networking resisting a simple change in access application, which is all it really is?

Then again, how often are we making changes to routers? Surely it's not something someone is doing daily and if it is why isn't the architecture organized in such a way as to minimize the exposure of clear text transmissions?

I dunno.... A gazillion questions here.... not sure what direction to go.....