I would love to see an 11W reporter ask a class action attorney about the possibilities of legal actions as described below.

If the allegations re the sign-stealing scandal prove to be true, would Jim Harbaugh and his staff, in their individual capacity, and the Michigan athletic department be potentially liable for damages/restitution in lawsuits brought by 1) people who bet on Ohio State in The Game in the past two seasons and 2) Ohio State fans who bought tickets to The Game in the past two seasons?

First of all, as we all know, legalized sports gambling has become a huge industry in recent years and it goes without saying that fans bet under the assumption that there is a certain level of integrity tied into the conduct of these games.

If it turns out that there was a systemic violation of the rules as alleged in the recent reporting, that seemingly would have impacted the outcome of the games and caused a lot of fans who bet the to lose a significant amount of money, right?

Similarly, Ohio State fans who were in attendance would have been deprived of what they spent a significant amount of money to see: games that were supposed to be played per an agreed-upon set of rules.   

If what Michigan is accused of doing proves to be true, haven’t those Buckeyes fans suffered in a material way?  Why shouldn’t they get their money back?

I only throw this out as food for thought (in addition to the other possible penalties that have been mentioned in other write-ups of the allegations).

Finally, I wondered how Harbaugh went from having averaged roughly 4 losses a season at Michigan through 2020 to his much improved record the past two seasons—and the current season.  Perhaps the alleged scouting scandal is the answer to that.