Judge sides with Columbia Public Schools in field name dispute

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Boone County judge sided Wednesday with Columbia Public Schools in a lawsuit alleging the district breached a contract for football field naming rights at Rock Bridge High School.

Wayne Sells filed the lawsuit in October 2024 after CPS removed his name from the Rock Bridge football field. The Columbia Board of Education unanimously voted to rename its athletics field in 2020 after Sells went on Facebook and criticized professional athletes who were protesting during the national anthem before games by kneeling. 

Sells had suggested renaming the field Veterans Memorial Field.

Judge Ben Miller heard arguments on March 2.

Sells argued that renaming the field violated his agreement with CPS made when he donated $100,000 to the school and agreed to an arrangement to name the field for him. CPS argued that no formal agreement existed.

That donation was used for improvements to Rock Bridge athletic facilities, which led to the school naming the field "Wayne Sells Family Activity Field" in 2006.