Judge: Eagles Owe City $3 Million In Skybox Money
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.
Judge: Eagles Owe City $3 Million In Skybox Money
Chris Brennan
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."
Comments (35)
Nutter's a tool. This could have been over and done with some time ago.— anon- Fascinated -- it's mathematically, not mathmatically. Perhaps spelling is too complex for you.— NathanielMerriweather
- NathanielMerriweather did you even read the article? Was the explanation for how the $3 million was arrived at too mathmatically complex for you?— Fascinated
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- Nathaniel, when you are rich, you can negotiate anything. I mean anything. Penalties, jail time, taxes. etc.— SayHello2MyLittleFriend
- Please, Please, Please explain to everyone how the Eagles "fleeced the city agian." People with hidden agendas are great. The Eagles go to build parks, but they fleece the city. They get 60,000 people to visit the city every day they play and spend money and bring revenue to the city, but they fleece the city. Most of the people are not from the city. I wish we knew how many people actually live in the cities borders. I feel bad for the people that live in the city. 5% of your wages for what? trsh collections that never come. Closed pools. Reduced fire departments and libraries. Don't worry, city council has corporate accounts and cars that are paid for. They have great employees that get paid 100K jobs and work 50% of the time. I will say it again, Philly and all of the charm is close to becoming Detroit East. If the Eagles, and other organizations that create tax flow left, it would even be worse. Keep asking them to leave, we will get another team (like LA). Why did they give money to these teams to build the stadiums? The city does it to drive their revenue. Again, where is this revenue going? We act like the Eagles are a drain on the cities economy.— SlinkTMP
- The way I read the Eagles had been trying to settle for some time because of the problem with the cancelation of the pre-season game. Maybe if the city would have settled this would have been over long ago. Sounds like no one was being reasonable. Oh well give us a Superbowl and no one will care.— ruserious
- First, nuggett, why don't you tell us how it feels to be nearly as dumb as Earl J?— ahab
- nuggett--- you are right. the city got fleeced again. The city of Philly never fleeces any hard working person that pays their taxes in the city. The Eagles ARE NOT a public company. They provide a product (and we all know that is not a Championship product, just a competitive one that keeps people buying tickets). Neither is the NFL. They are not required to open their books nor should they. If I was fortunate enough to own a company, it is no ones business what I make. If the tax man comes and I owe them, I will show them (and only them) what I owe or lost. I am sure the judge had numbers from both sides. It is none of our business. It was our politicians that gave them money to build their stadiums and they did nothing to get us OUR tax dollars back. The city gets all the revenue of having the teams play there (exactly!). I don't like everything that the team does, but running the team like a business is their approach because... it is a business. A rare set of owners buy teams to win championships for their egos, not the cities they play in. They buy the teams for the potential to make money. Not one person here would buy a business that would give money to everyone but the owner(s). I wish I had their money, but I am not going to call the Eagles "crooked" because they did not renew Brian Dawkins contract. Whaaaaa. We said the same things for Vincent, taylor, Douglas, etc... A RARE few personnel decisions were wrong (Burgess, possibly Staley). Dawkins will be back here after Denver working with the organization. He has no ill will against the team either (he expressed this again last weekend at his golf outing in Saucon Valley, PA). He will be smiling when the birds retire his number here. My company had cuts recently and 90% were "long timers" that were past their prime. It is business. If you want to check the books, go check the publically owned Green Bay Packers. Please explain to everyone how the Eagles "fleeced the city agian."— SlinkTMP
- Thanks for your suggestion Jeff. Learning how to read will become my new number one priority. I'll be sure to get right on that...right after I get off your mom.— NathanielMerriweather
- merlin: I believe both the Eagles and Phillies had to agree to keep the teams in the city for 50 years in exchange for tax payer dollars they got to build both stadiums. The Eagles won't be going anywhere anytime soon,— stop2think
- NO, the other winner was the eagles who fleeced the city agian....you and I both know Joe did not open his books to show the losses....(well maybe the "cooked" books)... .The NFL Owners have closed the doors tighter than Fort Knox.....and would never allow them opened...It would take a congressional hearing to get to them and if it got to that the congress would be paid off in freebies so they would drop the issue......and for those who want to belive Joe...how does it feel to be a sheep....????— nuggett
- 5 years of lawsuits.. and the Eagles owe the city $3 million...The only winners are the lawyers....
I lost all respect for this ownership/Mgt with the whole Dawkins affair. These carpetbaggers from Boston will never get the benefit of doubt from me again.— Earl J- I will repeat what I said about this a week ago.Joe Banner was on WIP and said that a few months ago the Eagles had made a out of court offer to the city for several million dollars to have this issue go away and was turned down by the city sounds like the offer was for about the 3mil the eagles owe.Stop bashing the eagles all the time get the facts straight the city caused this to drag on.— kenz52
- The real issue is how the Eagles created the $5 million dollar number. Were the books opened and the number verified...??? OR did the city trust "Joe" ???? If they did, they are bigger fools than we ever expected....We all know that Joe is cheap,and stingy, and not to be trusted.....and we know that the NFL Owners are a powerful lobby and would do anything to NOT allow anyone see their numbers and expose thier real positions......Mayor Nutter you have been duped....and the judge is on the take....— nuggett
- After paying the lawyers the city is in the hole 1 million, but Fast Eddie's Friends got 4 million of work. So it is a win!— Edward Isadore Savitz
- What part of this article did you not read? This article is worded like the judge changed the verdict from last week (8 mil) to the new amount this week (3 mil). Read the article before you post. 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." "Eagles owe the city $8 million in revenue from skyboxes in the 2000 and 2001 seasons at the former stadium." These are the facts. Both sides owe3d each other since 2000 and 2001. If you are going to blast the "billionaire" Eagles, why are you not blasting the city that makes millions of dollars in revenue when the Eagles play in the city? The city makes revenue off of each person attending the games and going to the bars to watch these games. Come to think of it, they make the same money off of every team that plays in the city, pro and college. Shouldn't the city have the money to pay the Eagles what they owed them? Where is this money people? Is it opening pools and keeping libraries open? Since someone brought it up, what about all of the PPA money? Where is that going? Both sides should have the money, so don't blast the responsible party for having to pay up. The ruling HAD NOTHING to do with the amount of money paid to McNubb (McNabb... which I think they did not have to do since he was signed for 2 more years and was already making more money then Brady each year). The lawyer protected the Eagles more than the city.— SlinkTMP
- Nathaniel - Learn how to read. Eagles owe the city $8 mil. City owes the Eagles $5 mil. Eagles pay city $3 mil, net. Pretty easy to follow 8 minus 5 equals 3. Got it straight yet?— Jeff
- NathanielMerriweather... both side owed each other money. The 3 million is the difference, which is all the Eagles were after all along.— SlinkTMP
- 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
- 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 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
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?- Yes, there were several important factual disputes involved here. But now that it's settled, will the busybodies please STFU about it?— ahab
- Comment removed.
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.- pittsburgh also probably wouldn't have let three rivers fall into such disrepair that a game had to be cancelled— heinz guderian
- Comment removed.
- why did it take eight years to resolve this?— heinz guderian
- 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
- 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
- What a waste of time...— NJBites
- Hopefully those jerks will pay up quickly.— tonyS
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Chris Brennan, a native Philadelphian and graduate of Temple University, joined the Daily News in 1999. He has written about SEPTA, the Philadelphia School District, the legalization of casino gambling, state government, the mayor, the governor, City Council and political campaigns. E-mail tips to brennac@phillynews.com
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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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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. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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Follow Chris on Twitter
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
Follow Dave on Twitter.
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. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
Follow Jan on Twitter
Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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