Judge: Eagles Owe The City $8 Million
A Common Pleas Court judge this morning ruled that the Philadelphia Eagles owe the city $8 million in skybox revenue from the former Veterans Stadium. The other cleat is expected to drop next week in the long-running legal battle when Judge Albert W. Sheppard Jr. is expected to rule on how much the city owes the Eagles from a 2001 pre-season game that was canceled due to field conditions at the Vet.
Judge: Eagles Owe The City $8 Million
A Common Pleas Court judge this morning ruled that the Philadelphia Eagles owe the city $8 million in skybox revenue from the former Veterans Stadium. The other cleat is expected to drop next week in the long-running legal battle when Judge Albert W. Sheppard Jr. is expected to rule on how much the city owes the Eagles from a 2001 pre-season game that was canceled due to field conditions at the Vet.
The legal tussle drew media attention like linemen on a fumble when the Eagles went to court in March, claiming they had a secret deal with then-Mayor John Street to settle the skybox and canceled game disputes for less than $1 million. Street then claimed that there was no secret deal.
Sheppard ruled in August 2005 that the Eagles owed the city money for the skyboxes but didn't set an amount. He also ruled that the city owed the Eagles an amount "to be determined" for the canceled pre-season game. That amount will be set next week.
UPDATE, 1:10 pm: It appears the Eagles are going to come out of this dispute owing the city somewhere between $0 and $3 million, if next week's ruling by Sheppard tracks with recent negotiations concluded by attorneys for the Nutter administration and the football team.
Mathieu Shapiro, an attorney for the Eagles, said he anticipates that Sheppard will rule next week that the city owes the team somewhere between $5 million and $8 million for the missed pre-season game. Shapiro said of the negotiations: "A lot of hard work went into this on both sides." The Eagles have no plans to appeal, he added.
That echoed sentiment expressed by Mayor Nutter a few minutes ago. "I'm certainly very, very pleased that this particular part has been resolved," Nutter said of today's ruling. "I appreciate all the efforts that anyone has made with regards to this matter. There's been a lot of back and forth. There's been a lot of time and effort spent dealing with this."
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Serves them right. Jeffrey and Joe— GoBirds77- Comment removed.
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Don't think for one minute that the Eagles will claim as "little" as $8M for their loss!!- The Eagles owe it to this city to pay the 8 million and beyond, all the support the fans and this city gives them, the police department, etc, we are in despearate need of the money, pay up.— karbase8
- This all could have been setteled out of court if Jeffrey and Joe weren't such penny pinchers.— FMJKD66
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- This is the second time that the Eagles have been found to owe the city 8 million dollars, this time it should also have included interest on the original 8 million since the last ruling!— hotmale_59405
- the city is gonna get the shaft on this one. watch the judge rule that the city owes the Eagles 10 mil.— idiotbox
- How much do you want to bet The Eagles'Jeffrey and Joe will say the City owes the the Eagles from the Vet situation, you guessed it, $8 million. LOL— MoBayYankee
- They won't pay. Jeff and Joe Don t care about the city and they don't care about you.— cusoraider
- The Eagles will owe 8 mil, the city will owe 8 mil, and the lawyers will charge 8 mil on both sides for dealing with this. The lawyers always win.— bh12801
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- I will be SHOCKED if the Eagles pay the city.— rich42
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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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