Cornhusker State News

Eight University of Nebraska football players filed a lawsuit last week against the Big Ten Conference in a bid to force a reversal of the decision to cancel the fall season. 

The move is the latest attempt by both players and parents to change the league's decision announced Aug. 11 that the season will be postponed until spring 2021.

Parents of several players wrote a letter to Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren demanding documents linked to “votes” on whether “to cancel, postpone or delay fall sports,” and asking for the “scientific data and other medical information” used prior to reaching the decision. Both the players and the parents, which include NFL great Ed McCaffrey, whose son Luke plays quarterback for Nebraska, are represented by attorney Mike Flood of Jewells & Collins in Norfolk, Nebraska.

Cornhuskers QB Luke McCaffrey | Photo courtesy of the University of Nebraska

“Sadly, these student athletes have no other recourse other than filing a lawsuit against their conference,” Flood told the Associated Press. “The presidents and chancellors of these [Big Ten] universities have taken inconsistent positions about whether there was a vote, and they have largely failed to explain what positions they took. This lawsuit isn’t about money or damages, it’s about real-life relief.”

Flood, a former speaker of the Nebraska Legislature, owns five radio stations that broadcast Cornhuskers football games as part of the Husker Sports Network, according to AP and his LinkedIn profile.

The eight players named as plaintiffs in the suit are Brant and Brig Banks, Alante Brown, Noa Pola-Gates, Jackson Hannah, Garrett Nelson, Ethan Piper and Garrett Snodgrass. They want a court order blocking the Big Ten enforcing its plans to postpone the season.

Filed in Lancaster County District Court, the suit claims that scrapping the season may hamper the development of the players and limit their ability to show their talents to professional football teams. Further, the suit claims this career-stunting will leave them unable to capitalize on their names, images and likenesses.

The Big Ten responded in a statement issued following the filing of the suit Thursday.

“We share the disappointment that some student-athletes and their families are feeling,” the statement said. “However, this lawsuit has no merit and we will defend the decision to protect all student-athletes as we navigate through this global pandemic. We are actively considering options to get back to competition and look forward to doing so when it is safe to play.”

Earlier this month, the Big Ten said the season would be moved from the fall to the spring. The parents of the players, in their letter last week to Warren, expressed concern at the staging of two seasons in one calendar year.

“The Big Ten Conference Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COPC) overwhelmingly voted to postpone the fall sports season based on medical concerns and in the best interest of the health and safety of our student-athletes,” last week's press release stated. “This was an important decision for our 14 member institutions and the surrounding communities. The decision was thorough and deliberative, and based on sound feedback, guidance and advice from medical experts.”

But the lawsuit questions the process that led to the announcement, describing it as “flawed and ambiguous.” It also queried whether the COPC took a formal vote, and argued that “the medical studies used to make the decision were not relevant to the circumstances of college-age athletes and did not take into account school safety measures.”

In their letter to Warren, the parents stated that they “strongly believe that the football environment at the University of Nebraska is the safest place for them to be, and the postponement or cancellation of the fall season places them in a far worse position than if the Big Ten Conference moved forward with the season. After evaluating the COVID-19 climate for months, how could so much … change in six days? Your student-athletes are entitled to know who made the decision and how they voted.” 

This comment was is in reference to the schedule being released days before the cancellation announcement.

“If this decision is the best thing for our kids, we want to know what science and data they used to come to this conclusion,” Glen Snodgrass, father of freshman and plaintiff Garrett Snodgrass, told the Lincoln Journal Star. “Another big issue is the fact that there are still other conferences playing while we’re not. I think that’s going to be difficult on our kids. They’re resilient. They’re going to bounce back.”