Capital Christian asks judge to waive CIF playoff ban on its high school football team
Capital Christian High School officials have asked a federal judge for an injunction against the California Interscholastic Federation to allow its football team to play in the postseason.
In the motion filed Thursday, Capital Christian asked U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez to allow Capital Christian School’s football team to participate in playoffs for the 2022 season. The proposed injunction would also take the school off probation and not allow any new penalties against the school.
Capital Christian was banned from the playoffs for its involvement in the CAPS League, a short-lived club football league that sprang up in response to a statewide health order designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Capital Christian leased its field and equipment to a club team that was run by the school’s head football coach and athletic director.
The school argues in its motion and in its federal lawsuit, filed last week, that the Sac-Joaquin Section of the CIF treated Christian schools unfairly and violated their constitutional rights.
The legal case will likely test the financial resolve of the CIF. Federal lawsuits can be expensive to defend against, if they go all the way to a trial. More than 50% of the Sac-Joaquin Section’s income typically comes from high school football, according to financial documents provided every summer by the section to the media. But during the pandemic, there were no games for more than a year and no playoffs for two years.
Capital Christian is represented by Sidley Austin, a large multinational law firm based in Chicago.
The school’s motion for an injunction against the playoff ban hinges on several points. The school frames its involvement with the club football team as similar to an AAU basketball team. AAU teams routinely lease school gyms for games in the Sacramento area and are routinely led by the high school coach or a member of the school staff. As a result, Capital Christian says, the section unfairly pounced on club football.
“I did not shut down the club football games scheduled to occur in February and March 2021 because I had no authority over the teams,” said Tim Wong, who leads Capital Christian schools, in a statement included with the injunction filing.
The lawsuit and the motion for an injunction both argue Christian schools were unfairly targeted for their involvement in the club league. Grant and Elk Grove, public high schools, had many players and coaches involved in the league, Capital Christian argued, and were not punished by Mike Garrison, the commissioner of the Sac-Joaquin Section.
“It is my belief that Mr. Garrison sought to target Christian schools for punishment for participating in the CAPS League,” Wong said in the statement. “The fact that he referred several public schools for possible sanctions, which were not ultimately imposed, only solidifies this belief.”
Vacaville Christian, Ripon Christian and Stone Ridge Christian of Merced were also all sanctioned for their involvement in the club football league. The Christian schools were the only schools to lease their facilities out to a club football squad for games. A team based in Elk Grove practiced in a public park and played at least one game at Capital Christian. Capital Christian was hit with a two-year playoff ban and its athletics programs were all put on probation as a result of its involvement with the league.
In the lawsuit filed last week, the lawsuit says the CIF and the Sac-Joaquin Section, which oversees the Sacramento area, violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause on two counts. It also alleges the CIF and Sac-Joaquin Section infringed on Capital Christian’s right to freedom of expression and religion.
This is the second lawsuit filed by Capital Christian in a fight with the CIF that dates back more than a year. The school dropped the first lawsuit last week, before Sacramento Superior Court Judge Laurie Earl could enter a final ruling. Earl decided last November to allow the CIF’s playoff ban to stand rather than grant an injunction to allow Capital Christian to play in last season’s playoffs.
Capital Christian had at least one other fight with government officials over pandemic restrictions. In August 2020, while all schools were closed by order of the Sacramento County Health Department, Capital Christian tried to open its doors by saying it functioned as a daycare facility. That worked for a few days before Sacramento County ordered the school to close.
A hearing on the latest filing is July 12. The high school football season starts in mid-August, with playoffs starting in November.
This story was originally published May 6, 2022 at 10:43 AM.