Judge to Philadelphia Eagles: Pay the City Its $8 Million -- Now

    
by KYW's Mike Dunn

A Philadelphia judge has issued a ruling in the long-running, $8-million battle between the city and the Eagles -- ordering the team to pay up, pronto.

Common Pleas Court judge Albert Shepherd ruled on Monday that the Eagles' football organization must immediately pay the City of Philadelphia $8 million.  That's the amount the city had been claiming it was owed as its share of skybox revenues at Veterans stadium going back to the late 1990s (related story).

The Eagles say they won't appeal the judge's ruling, but they are hoping to win some of it back if a ruling in another case goes in their favor.

Mayor Nutter is pleased with Monday's decision:

"There's been a lot of back and forth.  There's been a lot of time and effort expended dealing with this.  And on behalf of the city, we're certainly pleased that this part of the matter has been resolved."

In April, Eagles' owner Jeffrey Lurie and team president Joe Banner filed affidavits with the court claiming that they had struck an oral deal with then-mayor John Street to settle the financial dispute for less than $1 million (related story).

City officials quickly refuted the team's claim.  Former mayor Street even chimed in, saying no such deal was ever made during his administration (related story).

The same judge is expected to rule later this month on the Eagles' counter-claim that the city owes the team $8 million for a canceled exhibition game with the Baltimore Ravens that was never played.

Mathieu Shapiro, an attorney for the Eagles, says the team is happy to get the skybox revenue case resolved.  He says the Eagles have always acknowledged that the team owes the city money. 

Shapiro says the team expects to win the case over the canceled exhibition game and expects to be awarded somewhere between $5 million and $8 million. 

But whatever the amount is, he says, it is.  

After Judge Shepherd's ruling was announced on Monday, an Eagles spokeswoman issued the following statement:

“We are glad we were able to come to an agreement with the city on the amount of money that we owe for the 2002/2003 suite flip agreement. We are equally pleased that the judge has indicated that he has all the information he needs and that he will issue a ruling within the next week, as to what the city owes the Philadelphia Eagles as it relates to the canceled game in August 2001. We have important civic, community, and economic ties to the City of Philadelphia and the region and we look forward to that being the focus of our ongoing dialogue as we look to the future."