After the Big Ten said it won’t enforce a league-wide action against Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, all hopes were placed on the Big 12 to make a move. As expected, the Big 12 has played its cards. They have chosen to pursue the legal route.
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Per Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, the Big 12 has filed a 47-page legal complaint in federal court against Texas Tech, the Texas attorney general, the system’s chancellor, and the school president and athletic director, requesting a declaratory judgment and a preliminary injunction to enforce its bylaws and sanction the program for its plans to play Sorsby.
“In an industry that rarely agrees on anything, there is finally an issue that everyone seems to agree on (other than TTU and the Attorney General): universities should not field players who have bet on their own team’s games in college athletics,” the Big 12 said in its filing.
According to the complaint obtained by Yahoo Sports, which was filed in the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, Texas AG Ken Paxton and the Red Raiders threatened the Big 12 with a lawsuit while the conference planned to vote on potential sanctions against the program in the situation where Brendan Sorsby was fielded in the coming season. This is despite the fact that the sanctions discussed by the conference were within the scope of the authority granted under the Conference Bylaws. However, the program and the Texas AG threatened a suit, which would prevent the conference from exercising its rights under the Bylaws and the First Amendment.
The threats from the state’s AG came in the form of a letter that was sent to the Big 12 last week. In the letter, the AG demanded that the conference desist from exercising its authority if the program decides to field Sorsby. Any action taken by the Big 12 was labeled an antitrust violation, prompting a lawsuit from the program and the AG. The letter, if it did anything, only caused more harm, as the Big 12 has moved ahead by filing a suit.
Before filing the complaints, presidents and athletic directors of the Big 12 had requested that Texas Tech not field Sorsby in the coming season. Talks about sanctioning the program only began after it denied the conference’s request not to field Sorsby.
In its filing, the Big 12 expressed its concern that overlooking the case would cause “reputational harm and irreparable damage to public and member trust in the integrity of league compensations.” There are also discussions about a situation in which the program wins a championship with an unqualified player.
“If a vote were to occur, however,” the complaint says, “some of the potential sanctions the Board could consider under the bylaws include monetary sanctions and/or a ban on competing in the Big 12 Championship Game.”
Brendan Sorsby’s case up till the Big 12 lawsuit
When investigations revealed that Brendan Sorsby had placed about 40 bets on the Indiana Hoosiers during his time with the program, the NCAA ruled him permanently ineligible as a result. He was not just violating the policy that prohibits student-athletes from betting against their teams, he was also violating the rule that prohibits players, athletic department staff, and conference personnel from betting on any sport in which the NCAA sponsors a championship, at both college and professional levels.
However, he filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in a district court, after he was discovered to have placed over $90,000 in sports wagers across thousands of bets during his collegiate career. And with the help of attorney Jeffrey Kessler, Judge Ken Curry granted him a preliminary injuction that prevents the association from punishing him for his violations, while he was only handed a two-game suspension. His trial was scheduled for February, 2027, well after the 2026 season must have come to a close.
Athletic directors and coaches across college football were vocal about their condemnation of the court ruling. Programs, like Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Georgia Bulldogs, backed up their words with actions, by refusing to play against Texas Tech if they field Sorsby. But the intervention of the Big 12 has come at the right time, as Texas Tech were almost getting away with a situation that would do irreparable damage to the integrity of college football.
