Paxton's letter, June 12 -- The Big 12 spent the week debating how to punish Texas Tech for obeying a court order. On Thursday the State of Texas answered with a number. Any sanction over Brendan Sorsby's return, Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote to the conference, would expose the league and its members to liability "substantially more than $200 million."

breach of contract, antitrust exposure, tortious interference, joint and several.

The state's warning landed alongside one from Jeffrey Kessler, the antitrust litigator who has spent a decade dismantling NCAA rules in federal court and who now represents Sorsby. Any attempt to circumvent Judge Ken Curry's order, Kessler wrote, "including by sanctioning Texas Tech University," facilita...