Eagles To City: You Want Trouble?
Philadelphia Inquirer Sports Columnist Bob Ford writes about the Eagles, the Phillies, the Sixers and the Flyers.
Eagles To City: You Want Trouble?
Bob Ford, Inquirer Sports Columnist
The little cat fight between the city of Philadelphia and the Eagles over secret deals, greased wheels and the small matter of $8 million just turned into another South Philly intimidation attempt this week.
The Nutter administration has decided to fight the Eagles as it tries to get unpaid luxury box revenue from Veterans Stadium, and in the process is denying the team's claim that former Mayor John F. Street or someone acting as his representative promised a cut-rate deal.
How did the Eagles respond? In the classic strong-arm fasion favored by most city gangs? With a threat that's about as well-veiled as a blackjack across the head.
"We are very disappointed that the city continues to attempt to try this case in public," the team said in a statement issued Tuesday. "We think this should concern every person doing business in the City of Philadelphia or is contemplating doing business in the city."
In other words, Mr. Businessman, we're going to badmouth the way you might expect to be treated in the city of Philadelphia, should you consider putting some of your resources there. Or, if your business is already in the city, perhaps you should take note of how upstanding folks like us are being treated right now. That should concern you, maybe enough to reconsider where you do your business."
It doesn't get much more blatant than that. You want to say nasty things about us -- things that include the non-payment of the $8 million, even though a judge ruled in 2005 that it was owed -- well, we can say nasty things, too. And maybe chase away some business from your door while we're at it. Want to keep playing this game, Mr. Mayor?
"...The city's attempt to pressure us publicly to pay an amount of money that we don't owe will serve ultimately to embarrass it and worry the entire business community," the statement added.
Not withstanding that the 2005 ruling indicates that the team does owe that amount of money, of course.
And there's that intimidation again, pointing out that the city trying to collect money owed to it should "worry the business community." You can almost see the executives hunkered behind their desks, their brows furrowed with concern. Could this happen to me? What about my skybox revenue?
The Eagles are acting like bullies, which is the organization's default setting. Maybe it will work and Nutter will back down, worried what else the team might say to foul the business waters for the city.
It's a nasty turn in the proceedings, but time-honored. Having a lawyer and a stick beats having just a lawyer any time.
Comments (60)
philly is anti-business nothing new here. taxes, unions, crime, it has it all.— give me liberty or death- This article or blog or whatever it is, is from April. Why is it being reposted?— scars73
- I doubt many businesses take their cues from sports teams. and what can they say that's not alreayd said about doing business in the city?— dreinterests
- Street is garbage...we know what he did to the cops in Philly...wouldn't be suprised if that swine backdoored the Eagles too.— SonofBen5
- the eagles think they can bully anyone...eventually they will get theirs. where's my sheldon brown jersey btw?— thefadd
The funny thing is how people in this city can even route for this organization. Don't blame Laurie, blame yourselves for greasing his pockets. I decided about a decade ago that I would no longer route for this team. Today I route against them.— wokmaster- BOOM! first the players now the city now the fans need to jump in and get rid of Laurie, Reid, Banner!— losteagle
- just pay it Eagles!! The court ruled in the city's favor save the tax payers some money and just pay it!! Worry about signing Tony Gonzales for a 3rd and possibly other draft choice, forgot Bolden and draft a running back at 21.— hrlevine
If anyone gets down to this comment, the real story in this "story" is why Ford didn't include the reason the Eagles think they don't owe the money. You see, THAT would be unbiased reporting. The fact is that the Eagles claim they lost $8 million in revenue when the city didn't maintain the Vet turf and a pre-season game with Baltimore had to be canceled and the ticket revenue refunded. They call the two costs a wash. Convenient numbers, but still an even swap.- If a judge ruled they owe the money then guess what??? THEY OWE THE MONEY!!!— scoob
- Dutchman, can you give us some facts to your claims. I am curious, all I remember was the Eagles crying and threatening to leave town if they didn't get what they wanted.— wolfburn
Comment removed.- Actually, I'd be MORE worried if the City WASN'T trying to collect money it is rightfully owed, wouldn't YOU Jeffrey?— daddyimscared
- why do the eagles constantly release statements about how disappointed they are in others about taking things public? what is wrong with involving the public? and who cares anyway?— djack10
- Do the Eagles realize the city is the public and since this is taxpayer dollars, going public is perfectly legitimate. As for what other businesses can expect from the city, should we add $94M from the city towards construction of a new building? They are beyond ridiculous. What a choice, belive former Mayor John Street or Joe Banner and the rest of the Eagles brass!— kmon
- great sports news.— JACK V
- Read the blog post you morons. A judge found for the city in 2005. Why doesn't the city place a lien against them?— Dr. Martin von Nostrand
- Joe Banner and Jeff Lurie should be shot at dawn....what a buch of cowards....the judge ruled on 8 million...payup scums....then open your books and show us how much you lost on the bad turf game.....oh no....you won't......wonder why .....you sleeze....you won't do that will you......I say the city should sue the NFL...get the commisioner involved....show the world what scum Jeff and Joe are. Bring it on Eagles....You have ripped us off for years....It is time the outside world sees what low lifes you really are........— nuggett
- I agree with Bobbyuk. What city lawyer would willingly submit an affadavit that there was a deal with Street, if it was not true? He will never work for the city again. The Eagles would never risk steering him business because the press (Bob Ford becomes an investigative journalist) would kill them if it ever came out. Nutter is shooting at an easy target, pure expedience, pure Philly political incompetence. This type of behavior by the city certainly does not encourage businesses to work with the politicians.— dave94062
- The amount of money dumped into professional sports in this city, by just the fans alone?!?! PAY UP NFL! PAY UP!!— cemego
- Yeah. John Street doesn't lie.— PinkGargoyle
- Do We really believe John Street?— cwoulfe2000
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- At the very heart of this is one minor point... The Eagles are too dumb to realize that our support for the team on the field doesn't carry to the front office and their bickering over (relatively) petty sums of cash. If you tried this front office in the court of public opinion, they'd get the chair.— david
- They have taken almost this identical position and used almost the same words to slap Sheldon's mouth shut about his contract. These are more like a law firm than a football team. They should be ashamed.— trainrdt
We have seen some arogance in ownership in this town but Lurie & Company are the "Gold Standard". I hope Dawk shoves the proverbial "golf bag" the give him up their a** and shuts them out when he goes into the HOF!— Earl J- Too bad Rendell isnt still mayor, he'd let the birds keep the 8 million....so long they sign a receiver...— bigphillydad
- Why is this matter not being settled in the courts?— billro3
- Nutter needs to go knock on the deadbeats that owe back property taxes to the tune of $100's of million instead of trying to get $8M from the Eagles. I am sure the Eagles pay their fair-share of taxes. I agree the corrupt policticians & terrible unions have been driving this great city in to the ground.— R Mexico
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Dutchman you are 100% correct. Street did do the deal and now Nutter want's to void it.— Flyboy24- i don't know why people are so inclined to believe that John Street didn't strike an inside deal with them. Some people are so blinded by their anti-Lurie hate. While he may not have won a Super Bowl, they have been the most consistent sports team in this town since 1995. If ignorance was money, this region would be the richest in North America.— Justanothervoice
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- I like all the teams in this city, but I will tell you what they have the most screwed up front offices in the whole world. These guys would step on anybody for a dollar, people and words mean nothing to them, they are scavengers of the worst sort (hyineas). I haven't paid to seea game in 10 years and will never pay to see any of these teams ever play, they don't deserve my hard earned money !!!!!!— lalleva
I moved away from the area a couple years ago, and one reason that I even considered it was due to the local union thugs in the city. Their backward thinking of demanding that anyone doing business in the city (even as vistors - see Convention Center) use their overpaid, inefficient and rude laborers in order to get their "fair share" is having the effect of preventing the city to grow. All across the country there are cities seing double digit increases in population, but not so much in Philly. Why? Because there's no new jobs coming to the city. So the unions keep demanding a bigger piece of a shrinking pie instead of partering in growth and taking a smaller piece of a growing pie.- So, Bob...how much money does the Vet Landlord City of Philadelphia owe the Eagles for the national embarassment Vet turf that caused the cancellation of the exhibition game? The city of Philadelphia is an old, tired corrupt (and content) cesspool of special interest groups, public teat sucking do-nothings and incompetent politicians and cronies. And that is exactly what the people of Philly deserve. Keep voting for the likes of the "worst legislative body in the world"— JingoGuy
- i'll bet on the eagles business plan over the city of philadelphia's. no brainer.— JACK V
- interesting statements dutchman, too bad that isn't what the eagles are saying. It's be a lot more effective than the tough man antics they employ.— dreinterests
- Mabey the Eagles should move to LA and we can get a new franchise in a few years.— Souf Phil
- Bob Ford again leaves out very important info from this so called piece of writing. There are people posting here with more info than Mr, Ford. Come on Bob start putting all the info in your writing. This is all to common in your work. All you do is get all the haters going. Is that what they pay you to do, or are you supposed to give the whole story and let the fans decide for themselves.— fred13
- How can anyone be an Eagles fan. The don't care about the fans remember how they wanted to take your hoagies away then they wanted to stop letting you tailgate. Now they don't want to pay 8 million because of a preseason game being canceled how many years ago? Oh and don't the fans who want season tickets HAVE to pay for preseason game tickets. I don't know who the biggest jokes is Lurie or the fans for putting up with this disrespect.— cusoraider
- The greed of the wealthy is insatiable.— redbeagle
- Wonder what the truth is? The business climate is terrible.— sleepy
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- Excellent point dutchman, too bad the articles never mention it..— furio
- Mayor Nutter threatened them first. "The Eagles play football but this is not a game" was the quote. Everyone knows Street did that deal and Nutter want the cash.— Localjoe
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- One question--and I'm orignially from Philly, even though I live in London, Enlgand now--if there was no secret seal between the Eagles and John Street, why did the city attorney, who represented the city in these negotiations for Street, swear an affadavit that there was a secret deal to lessen the debt???— bobbyuk
- Lets talk about bullying. The Eagles had bid the construction of the Linc and had a price of $350 million. At that price, the only thing Philly and the State government were paying for was the land to build the stadium on and the demo of the vet. NO OTHER CASH REQUIRED AND NO SEAT LICENSES. Rendell, Street, and other local politician went ape because the construction firms that won were from the south and NON-UNION. After threatening to block the deal, the city and state came up with most of the difference in price to force the Eagles to use local union contractors to the tune of and ADDITIONAL $150 MILLION. And they screwed it up. They also stiffed hundreds of suppliers who were forced to sue over thens of millions of dollars. the Eagles also went to seat licenses. the Eagles wanted to pay their own way, but when blackmailed by politicians caved.— dutchman
- pictured above is the first time lurie touched a shovel.— bababooey2yall
- Truly an absurd statement from the Eagles. Why shouldn't this issue be public? What does the rest of the business community have to do with this? The city's finances are in turmoil and the Eagles not only refuse to help, they want to cause further fiscal damage. One Team. One City. One Dream. Hahahahahahaha!— celtic_13
- So the Eagles, who used taxpayer money to get their cash cow stadium, are not only withholding funds desperately needed by the city but are trying to potentially hurt economic conditions for people who might benefit from business' locating in the city and allowing for employment opportunities? When you are constantly looking like villains maybe you need to look in the mirror and question your business practices. I think they relish this for some reason...— Dtownfan
- I never thought I'd ever say this, but I am rooting for the city in this one. Somebody needs to put this arrogant, greedy franchise in its place. I'm so sick and tired of their tough guy antics. I've turned my back on this disgusting organization, and I highly encourage others to do so. There are many good people in this city, and they should not be beaten down time and time again simply because they love football. Lurie, Banner, and all the rest -- go take a hike!! Pun intended.— UncleEddie
- Somebody needs to give Lurie a good noogie; I nominate the Phillie Phanatic to do it.— Timmy
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- Andy looks about 150 pounds lighter in the picture than he did last season.— woogie
- I heard the Eagles are going to start charging money for the air you breath while your on Stadium grounds.— Voytas
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About this blog
Bob Ford has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 1981, and is still trying to figure it all out. A former beat writer covering the Phillies and the 76ers, Ford became a general sports columnist for the Inquirer in 2003, following in and occasionally falling in the deep footsteps of Bill Lyon, Frank Dolson and many distinguished others. He comes to the Philly.com blogosphere after award-winning success as designer/editor of the fabulous Pen & Pencil Club softball blog. Likes: Palestra, inside-the-park home runs, sunny days. Dislikes: phony people, cloudy days, rewrites.
Reach Bob at bford@phillynews.com.
Bob Ford
Inquirer Sports Columnist
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