A Common Pleas Court judge just ruled that the city owes the Philadelphia Eagles $5 million for a 2001 preseason game at Veteran's Stadium that was canceled due to problems with the playing surface. Senior Judge Albert Sheppard Jr. ruled last week that the Eagles owe the city $8 million in revenue from skyboxes in the 2000 and 2001 seasons at the former stadium. That means the long dispute, which resulted in dueling lawsuits in 2004, has been settled with the city to receive $3 million from the team.
"I'm definitely pleased that the matter has concluded," said Mayor Nutter, calling the whole matter "unfortunate" while praising the team as a great corporate citizen. The case turned nasty in March when the Eagles went to court, claiming they had a previously undisclosed deal with then-Mayor John Street to settle the dispute for less than $1 million. The team had said the missed preseason game cost the team $8 million, the exact amount the city said it was owed for the skyboxes. Street denied that he had approved a secret deal, saying he would have demanded it be put in writing if that had happened.
The city and the team started negotiating a deal after that dust-up. An attorney for the Eagles last week said the team expected Sheppard to rule this week that the city owed the Eagles between $5 million and $8 million, based on the recent negotiations. "The judge has determined that it is fair," Nutter said when asked what he thought of the settlement. "I'm satisfied with that. The matter is over."
In the March court filing, the Eagles said they had hoped a quiet deal with Street's administration would help the team avoid "negative publicity" from the dispute. That didn't happen. Eagles spokeswoman Pamela Browner Crawley this morning said the team is glad to be done with the court battle. "While it wasn’t the easiest decision to make, we wanted to come to a conclusion," Crawley said. "So this is exactly where we wanted to be."
Hopefully those jerks will pay up quickly.— tonyS- What a waste of time...— NJBites
- Watch what happens now. The Eagles will say, "We might move to Jersey", as they can't appeal. As for payment? They *should* pay ASAP, but probably not. Shame that the payment won't have interest tagged with it....— merl1n
- This whole mess irked me from Day 1. The Eagles had a legitimate gripe about the canceled game, but they signed a contract with the city for the skybox revenue. Again, the only people who made money are the lawyers. I hope the city charged interest on that 3 million.— chasing history
- why did it take eight years to resolve this?— heinz guderian
Comment removed.- pittsburgh also probably wouldn't have let three rivers fall into such disrepair that a game had to be cancelled— heinz guderian
Is it a coincidence that McNabb's bonus is equal to the city's obligation to pay the Eagles? Looks like that Eagles have a dedicated source of funding for this type of Largess courtesy of Phila Tax Paypayers. Thanks, Mr Lurie, please do not ever think of asking for another penny for any reason from the city.- Comment removed.
- Yes, there were several important factual disputes involved here. But now that it's settled, will the busybodies please STFU about it?— ahab
The Eagles had no choice but to hold out to make the city compensate them for the canceled game. If they had paid the $* Million they owed do you think the city would ever pay them the $5 Million for the canceled game?- The Eagles shouldn't have went off a handshake and the city should have paid up for what was obviously their fault and error many years ago. In the end the taxpayers have a little more come out of their paychecks in the long run to settle something that should have been done by each party on their own.— ynot716
- Let me get this straight. The Eagles owe the city $8 million but only have to pay $3 million? And the Mayor is satisfied with that? Cool -- next time I get a parking ticket I think I'll just pay $10 instead of the $26.— NathanielMerriweather
- The Eagkles agreed to pay after the city worked out the final numbers. The city wanted the full 8 million and then they were going to pay the Eagles back. Philly chose not to not work out a deal. SafetyDan is 100 % correct on this. People are lucky to get money back from the city now when it is owed to them. Do you really think the city of Philadelphia would have paid the 5 million to the Eagles after the Eagles gave them the 8 million? Come one people, wake up to Philly politics. Amazing how a business that makes money needs to pay, but the government that ONLY spends more money than it makes get the free pass on this. STOP ELECTING THE SAME OFFICIALS INTO CITY COUNCIL and maybe they won't take multimillion payouts of YOUR money in the DROP program.— SlinkTMP
- NathanielMerriweather... both side owed each other money. The 3 million is the difference, which is all the Eagles were after all along.— SlinkTMP
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Catherine Lucey joined the Daily News in 2002 and has written about murderous drug gangs, political protesters and Harry Potter. After covering the 2007 mayoral election, she moved over to the City Hall bureau where she has been reporting on the Nutter administration.
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans.
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