Texas AG warns Big 12 if Texas Tech punished for playing Sorsby - ESPN

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton sent a letter to Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark and board of directors chairman Douglas Girod on Thursday, notifying the league that it would be exposed to «substantial liability» if it takes action against Texas Tech for playing quarterback Brendan Sorsby.

The Big 12 Conference's presidents were scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss whether the league can invoke bylaw 3.6 to sanction the Red Raiders if they decide to play Sorsby, who was declared ineligible by the NCAA for wagering on college sports. Texas Judge Ken Curry granted Sorsby a temporary injunction to play for the Red Raiders on Monday. The NCAA plans to appeal the ruling.

«We are aware that the Big 12 is considering invoking Bylaw 3.6 of the Big 12's Bylaws to sanction Texas Tech for respecting the Order and continuing its support of Mr. Sorsby as a student-athlete,» Paxton wrote in the letter. «This letter serves to notify the Big 12 that any such action would be unlawful and would expose the Conference to substantial liability.»

Big 12 athletics directors held a conference call with Yormark on Tuesday, in which the league's other 15 universities unanimously opposed the Red Raiders playing Sorsby this season.

TCU athletic director Mike Buddie and Kansas State AD Gene Taylor have suggested that the league's other teams might not play Texas Tech this season if Sorsby plays.

In the letter, Paxton warned that the Big 12 would be exposed to damages for «Texas Tech's lost football revenues, damages to its alumni contributions and damages to its recruitment, plus attorneys' fees.»

«The total exposure — for both the Big 12 and its members, joint and severally — will be substantially more than $200 million,» Paxton wrote.

If the