The revenue-sharing model for athletes coming in 2025 will further reshape the shifting landscape of collegiate athletics. Exactly how is anyone’s guess at this point, but readers have theories and questions.

Let’s do a “Triple Lindy” into an early summer mailbag ala Rodney Dangerfield in the 1986 sports comedy “Back to School.” How would the economics of modern-day college sports have impacted Dangerfield’s legendary career as a college diver? Based on everything we’re hearing; Dangerfield still wouldn’t be getting any respect.

John of Huntsville writes …

Really enjoyed your column entitled “Fire Sankey if SEC starts cutting sports.” I’m an Auburn graduate. I was super excited about Auburn’s men’s golf winning a national championship, but the reality is that it is a non-revenue producing sport. Why should schools be forced to invest in offering opportunities when those opportunities have no market and simply hemorrhage money? To phrase it another way, why should an athlete in football or basketball, sports that are revenue generating, have any obligation to share that with a women’s tennis team which isn’t?

ANSWER: The courts could ultimately decide who is entitled to revenue sharing, but it’s important to remember that Title IX is a federal law and equal opportunities for men and women must remain a cornerstone of collegiate athletics. If a women’s golfer isn’t getting paid the money she’s owed through Title IX, she could bring a lawsuit against her school.

Revenue sharing is going to be left up to individual athletic departments, which means that conferences will likely decide on uniform revenue-sharing mechanisms across their leagues. In the SEC, for example, the conference could pass rules keeping money the same across the board.

Will that add parity to major collegiate athletics? Doubt it. If we’ve learned anything about the history of college athletics, it’s that schools, teams, coaches and booster clubs will always look for a way to gain advantages over rivals. Unless federal legislation somehow reigns in NIL collectives, then big-money donors and fat-cat boosters will continue to give their teams an edge through any means necessary.

To answer the original question, consider this important aspect of collegiate athletics that is being overlooked by most. Historically, some of the biggest donors for athletic departments and schools are former athletes of Olympic sports that go on to become wealthy later in life. They remember their days playing for their school as the best of their life and want to give back to create that same opportunity for others.

This is especially true with former walk-ons of football. For walk-ons, school spirit is one of the biggest reasons for participation. That scout-team middle linebacker who volunteered their time in practice just to be a part of the team will go on to be a successful business executive and give back millions to his university.

No matter what happens to collegiate athletics in the coming years, schools would be wise to invest in as many sports as possible.

Mac of Auburn writes …

How dare you be so honest? Might lose your place poolside at the beach there. The questions are these: How many other animals in the barnyard and on the farm have to die to keep the golden goose and the cash cow alive, and to keep the farmers living in the high style they’ve become accustomed to? I think we can be quite certain none of the farmers nor anyone at the grange hall are going to be taking any pay cuts. Keep up the good work. Telling the truth can prove to be quite unpopular.

ANSWER: The mailbag has given me the opportunity to meet a lot of great people. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Mac through emails. Mac is a former football player for Auburn, and I appreciate his kind words. Mac’s father was an assistant for Shug Jordan for more than two decades. Mac is football royalty, and his perspective is valued. I have to be honest, though. This Birmingham city-slicker had to look up the definition of “grange hall.” It was a new one for me. Hopefully one day I can visit the local grange hall and meet some real farmers. In keeping with the chosen metaphor, I’m hoping that all barnyard animals are given plenty of hay and treats and invited inside the grange hall when the weather gets a bit too rough.

Plenty of readers reached out during Birmingham-Southern’s inspiring run to the Division III Baseball World Series. The Panthers played their first game of the D-III World Series on the same day that BSC officially closed. The baseball team then won a walk-off home run the next day. AL.com dedicated significant resources for me to travel with the team and document the final days of the baseball team and school. The coverage was appreciated.

Bob Clark writes …

Thank You for your excellent BSC and BSC Baseball Team Coverage on AL.com. I shared your coverage on my Facebook page. I followed your excellent coverage and fell in love with BSC and the BSC Baseball Team. … The bottom line for me is that after 168 years sadly for BSC it’s over. I think “It’s Over” by Roy Orbison sort of sums it all up for me. And there is no more joy in Mudville/BSC since there is no more BSC. However we all still have excellent memories of BSC and the BSC Baseball Team which will live on forever.

David Norton writes …

Southern University at Greensboro closed in the early 1860s briefly and reopened just as quickly because it discovered it could get by with less living on a reduced scale in a then agrarian economy. After about 40 years or so in the then Industrial Revolution Era things changed. Both economics and demand for labor brought a shift in population away from farming communities to the growing cities. Birmingham was the dominant city in the South at that time. Capital formation was important so the Methodist amalgamated two schools on a Hilltop in the “Magic City.” Things progressed very well with bequests from iron and steel patrons, e.g., [Robert S.] Munger, [William W.] Stockham, etc., that list goes on. As long as wealth from mineral extraction and production met demand, capital was added to Birmingham-Southern’s endowment. Then something changed.

The Information Age arrived. Birmingham struggled. It went through a phase or two. At one point the Magic City was renowned for plastic PVC pipe, publishing and healthcare. More recently the city is dominated by healthcare only with ancillary industry devoted to car parts. Where did the great robber baron philanthropic benefactor business families go whose largess granted BSC a former plentiful endowment?

Emory is the school that Coke built. Cornelius Vanderbilt gave his second wife from Mobile a gift of a major center of learning which she in turn gave to Tennessee. James B. Duke made money in tobacco and power generation and funded Trinity College for the Presbyterians, who renamed the school. There are several small private liberal arts colleges spread around, Grinnell in Iowa, Ursinus in Pennsylvania, Beloit in Wisconsin, etc., that have at least $1 billion in endowments. Each of these small schools that remain viable have at least one dominant long-standing patron who guaranteed that school wouldn’t vanish because of a lack of money. So what really happened at Birmingham-Southern College?

ANSWER: I’ve received plenty of feedback from prominent members of the Birmingham community about the fall of Birmingham-Southern. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone has a theory. I guess the easy answer is that guys like Richard Scrushy happened. A more in-depth analysis of BSC’s demise was detailed this week by AL.com’s excellent local investigative reporter Hannah Denham.

The decision made by state treasurer Young Boozer to deny BSC a $30 million loan was the final blow for the storied school. Clearly, it’s not the state’s fault that BSC failed. Is the economic decline of Birmingham to blame? Perhaps, but I’d like to look ahead. Alabama A&M is the state’s largest HBCU and its presence in Birmingham is welcomed. A&M is ready to pay BSC in cash for the campus. A university anchored with degrees in STEM seems like a promising bridge to the future.

BE HEARD

Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what’s on your mind for the mailbag. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”