City Responds to Eagles In Court, Says No Deal Made With Street

The city today filed legal paperwork formally denying that Mayor Street had ever made a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles to settle a $8 million debt to the city for less than $1 million.

In a filing in Common Pleas Court peppered with sports analogies, the city states that Street never cut such a deal and notes that the Eagles decided to makes this claim years into a lengthy legal process. "The Eagles would not petition, and no NFL Referee would allow the Eagles to redo a play or try a different play from one done unsuccessfully earlier in the game," the filing notes.

The filing includes a sworn affidavit from Street denying he ever approved such a deal.

The city has been battling with the Eagles over the $8 million debt for eight years. The city wanted $8 million for Eagles skybox revenue from the 2000 and 2001 seasons at Veterans Stadium. The Eagles refused to pay, blaming the city for $8 million in lost revenue after turf problems caused a 2001 pre-season game to be canceled. The city sued the Eagles in 2004.

On March 20, the Eagles filed papers in court alleging that former Mayor Street agreed to settle the dispute quietly for less than $1 million as part of the deal to build Lincoln Financial Field. The team asked a Common Pleas Court judge to enforce the previously undisclosed deal with Street.