An article by Mark Novicoff in The Atlantic contends that the end of Division I college sports as we currently know them is coming. The author considers all niche, non-revenue sports outside of football and basketball as dodo birds, headed for certain extinction. We, of course, heartily disagree.

The subtitle of the article says it all – Letting schools pay revenue-generating athletes is long overdue. If that means letting squash and water polo die, so be it. In the case of DU, that means skiing, golf, tennis, triathlon and even lacrosse should be headed to the trash heap of the past. As Novicoff argued, niche sports are filled with athletes of privilege, small or no crowds and little or no revenue.

What Novicoff argues may be true for the power four conferences (SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big XII) but the mid-majors have operated under an entirely different model. They, for the most part, have never been addicted to the high cost of high-level basketball and football. Lacking major income from football and basketball, DU and other midmajors have had to adapt, seek efficiencies, and optimize the sports they offer to actually thrive, not just survive, with a menu that includes and depends on niche sports.

But there is absolutely no question that the landscape is changing rapidly. As such, there are four drivers that DU and other mid-majors follow to maintain their programs.

First, DU may actually benefit from not funneling millions of dollars into football and basketball as the Pioneers are not likely to be national players in either sport. DU dropped football in 1961. In basketball, they spend mid-level money (174th/365 teams) to be competitive in the Summit League but far from the amount of money needed to compete at the national level. Stratification (have’s and have-nots) is even taking place at the Power Four conferences level where the bottom half of each of the conference members have little chance to compete against top conference foes.

Second, the University of Denver uses D1 athletics as the ‘Front Porch’ of the University. After winning numerous Directors’ Cups and National Titles (24 in skiing, 10 in hockey, and 1 in men’s lacrosse), DU has established a strong athletic brand in several sports. Many of DU’s other sports – women’s lacrosse, gymnastics, and men’s soccer – are nationally relevant for what is a mid-sized metropolitan private university. While not huge revenue generators, each of these sports and others provide national awareness and a platform to showcase the University to prospective students and parents. This would all be lost if Denver went to the club sports model as the author suggests.

Third, Novicoff sees niche sports as a negative “from an academic standpoint, the traditional athletics program is a negative: According to NCAA figures, athletes typically spend 30 hours a week on their sports.” Well, that may be true for football and basketball players as well as other niche sports, but DU athletes have consistently outperformed their peers in the classroom, even with rigorous D1 training and travel requirements. Most niche sports athletes are focused on academics because their professional opportunities are limited in their chosen sport.

Fourth, revenue sharing may actually be a greater burden on the Power Four. While DU will be largely unaffected by the recent NCAA settlement (yes, DU ‘opted in’ to the NCAA settlement for future flexibility), but they are taking a wait-and-see approach to revenue sharing. Power Conferences will now be forced to share half their TV and tournament media revenue with their student athletes, up to 20 million dollars a year for some programs. Up until now, the Power Four pocketed all that money for coaches, staff, and facilities. They just took a major haircut and will be forced to do more with less. In the meantime, DU and other mid-majors have always operated with budgetary constraints.

It will take time to understand the full impact of revenue sharing on NCAA teams outside the revenue behemoths in basketball and football. Yes, there is likely to be a big impact on niche, non-revenue sports. Ironically, that may come at the Power Four level, not the mid-major level, as their focus shift to the revenue-only sports of football and basketball.