The University of Nebraska at Omaha must release all requested records about its canceled football program to a law firm, a judge has ruled.

The Husch Blackwell firm filed a lawsuit in April, requesting public records relating to the former UNO football program. The university dropped the program in March 2011.

Attorney Mike Degan said the firm wants to learn whether the university knew that the football program would be canceled when it recruited new players.

If that is the case, he said, the players would consider filing another lawsuit seeking damages from the university.

UNO officials have said a verbal invitation to join the Division I Summit League came on Feb. 18, 2011, two weeks after football recruits signed letters of intent.

The university suggested that the law firm restrict its records request to documents containing several search terms. UNO refused to provide a cost estimate for the search of all documents, not just those with the search terms, according to court records.