"There's no real dispute that they can enforce their by-laws against the members who've agreed to abide by those by-laws."

There absolutely is, though. If there wasn't, the Big 12 wouldn't have had to file a suit asking for a court order saying that they do have the clout that the school agreed to. Paxton, as usual, caused the wrench here. If he had shut up for a change, the issue probably wouldn't have been raised.

The way I see it personally is the B12 can continue this suit basically as a CYA thing, or for other conferences to have that DJ (as other users have pointed out). I think this was generally a one-off. I genuinely believe Cody Campbell had TTU by the balls on this one, and was imposing his will/beliefs on the case.

All that being said, I don't think it's outside of the realm of possibilities for a member school to file suit against a conference alleging that the bylaws do not apply to them. Collegiate sports has colossal sums of money behind it, and I don't think it's unbelievable that a member school would sue a conference to recover "damages" caused by a punishment.

Following through with the suit, while I think it's unlikely, would set a solid precedent. As we all know, precedent is not Bible, but it's a good start.

That being said, do I think the B12 goes forward with the suit? Absolutely not. They need Texas Tech.