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IHSA: Lawsuit Could Lead Some Schools To Cut Football

WUIS

The nation's first high school sports governing body to face a class-action concussions lawsuit warns that legal action could result in wealthier schools keeping their football programs and cash-strapped ones eliminating them.  

Illinois High School Association Director Marty Hickman said in a Friday news conference that court-imposed policies, such as mandating physicians be present at all practices, would be costly.  

Hickman says the result would be that ``the haves are going to continue to have (football) and the have-nots are not going to have it.''  

A former high school quarterback filed the lawsuit Saturday. It says the IHSA doesn't adequately protect the state's 50,000 high school football players.  

The lawsuit also wants the IHSA to implement policies at 800 member schools that go beyond state-law requirements. 

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