Katofsky and other Owlz officials have insisted that Minor League Baseball Rule 54 prohibits them from allowing the stadium to be called Brown Ballpark because the name wasn't approved by the commissioner.

That's why the Owlz employees have reminded sports reporters in e-mail and in person to call the stadium the Home of the Owlz in stories, they said.

Last week, Owlz employees tried to cover up a sign over the stadium's press box recognizing Brent and Kim Brown, but a UVSC vice president said college officials made them stop.

In an interview with the Morning News on Thursday, a Minor League Baseball spokesman said Rule 54 doesn't come into play.

"Rule 54 would apply if the college was involved in the ownership of the team, it would all be part of a thing that would need to come to our office," the spokesman, Jim Ferguson, said. "But they are not involved in the ownership. As I understand they (the Owlz) just rent the ballpark."

Jason Taylor, another owner of the Owlz, said he considers the Owlz not just renters but partners with UVSC since the Owlz draw larger crowds than the college's teams and has helped put the ballpark on the map as a Utah County landmark.

The Owlz paid for upgrades when the stadium was under construction, such as seats with backs and an enhanced scoreboard.

The Owlz and UVSC even had a yearlong contract in which the Owlz would get some money if they helped line up a naming rights donor.

"It really was a contract where they recommended to us to use a company called Sponsor IQ to go out and find a naming rights sponsor," said Val Hale, a UVSC vice president. "We signed a one-year contract with that company, and if that company would have been successful ... the Owlz would have benefitted financially from that."

But the contract expired in February — one month after the Browns began talking to UVSC. The college secured the donor without the Owlz.

Hale said the college attorney has advised him to not provide a copy of the contract and other documents relating to the stadium naming dispute unless the Morning News seeks the documents through an official government records request, which the newspaper has done.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com