Ute Conference issues football schedules after federal judge denies temporary restraining order bid

SALT LAKE CITY — Coaches, parents, and players finally received their Ute Conference Football schedules Thursday evening after a federal judge denied a motion for a temporary restraining order that potentially could have delayed or even derailed the season.

Parent and attorney Brennan Moss filed the lawsuit claiming antitrust violations after his 7-year-old and 9-year-old children were not allowed to participate in the same Olympus District as their friends.

“Our boys go to Olympus,” Moss explained during an interview with KSL TV. “After making their teams, they were told they couldn’t be on those teams because we’re 800 feet from the boundary line.”

Per organization officials and parent accounts, Ute Conference Football has stringent rules requiring children to play within their designated district boundaries.

Moss said he didn’t want to bring the matter to federal court, but Ute Conference administrators would not budge on an exception.

“Basically what the courts have said for a lot of years is that competitors cannot divide up territories,” Moss said. “You can’t say, ‘Target, you’re going to take all of the customers on the east bench and Walmart—you’re going to take all of the customers by the University of Utah—and divide up the territories that way. And the way that the Ute Conference operates is they divide up their leagues by districts and they say, ‘You have to play for this district’ and this district cannot go out and get this player from another district, so our theory was that’s anti-competitive.”

Attorney Michael Judd argued on behalf of the Ute Conference that the boundary rule was in place to help ensure parity. He also noted the boundary rule was nothing new and that parents chose Ute Conference Football because of the rule.

He argued the matter did not rise to the level of an antitrust claim in federal court.

While Judge David Barlow did not rule on the merits of the Moss lawsuit, he denied a motion for a temporary restraining order saying their presented case did not meet the thresholds for one.

Moss told KSL TV his aim was not to derail the season for everyone and in court he even argued for a far more limited temporary restraining order simply allowing his children to participate with Olympus.

He said he understood that the litigation had something to do with the delay in the release of Ute Conference schedules.

“There was a message they put out to all the coaches that they couldn’t put out the schedule in part because of this,” Moss said. “To the extent they were willing to sacrifice 8,000 families’ seasons because of this issue made me feel bad.”

Ute Conference administrators declined an on-camera interview with KSL TV but underscored they wanted all children playing football.

At a practice at Hatch Park in North Salt Lake Thursday evening, Woods Cross pee wee coach Joe Cook said he was glad the judge decided the matter the way he did.

“They were saying there was going to be irreparable damage if their son couldn’t play, but we’ve got 10,000 other boys out here who aren’t going to be able to play,” Cook said. “You can join the Ute Conference or you can start your own league, in my opinion.”

Midway through practice, Cook finally learned where his team would be playing Saturday afternoon—in Weber County against Fremont.

“You know these boys have to sit in school all day long and they’re ready to go hit some people,” Cook said. “Play the game.”