$8 Million Fight: Nutter Tells Eagles to Pay Up!
By KAREN ARAIZA
Updated 11:14 AM EST, Wed, Apr 22, 2009
Mayor Nutter has had enough and wants the Eagles to pay up the $8 million he says they owe the city.
Well, if you're taking bets on who will come out ahead on this one, consider this: In the eight years this fight has been going on, the city has slumped into a dire financial crisis and Lurie has jumped from the ranks of multi-millionaire onto Forbes elite list of billionaires.
The city is trying to collect $8 million for Eagles skybox revene from the 2000 and 2001 seasons at Veterans Stadium.
The Eagles have refused to pay. First, they blamed the city for $8 million in lost revenue after turf problems caused a pre-season game to be canceled.
The city sued in 2004. Then Lurie dropped last month's bombshell-- in court-- when the Eagles filed papers claiming Lurie and Philly's former mayor, John Street, agreed to settle everything quietly for less than one million. It was handshake sort of deal, no papers were signed. It was all part of the deal to build the Linc, according to the Eagles.
The Eagles wanted a Common Pleas Court judge to enforce the previously undisclosed deal with Street.
Street screamed foul, publicly denying any deal at any time.
So Tuesday, the city filed court documents to back Street's public denial.
The court papers include a sworn affidavit from Street. The argue that Street never cut such a deal and question why the Eagles decided to make this claim eight years into the 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.
Nutter wants the Eagles to basically shut up and pay up. Let's see what Lurie does with this one.
In the meantime, here are Philly's court documents for some good bedtime reading:
Memorandum of Law
Answer to Petition of Eagles
Draft and Order
Exhibit #1
Exhibit #2
Exhibit #3
Exhibit #4
Exhibit #5
Exhibit #6
Exhibit #7, Part One
Exhibit #7, Part Two
First Published: Apr 21, 2009 6:57 PM EST
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