Judge rules Eagles owe city of Philadelphia $8 million

For the past few years it seems this story about a disputed $8 million the Eagles may or may not have owed the city of Philadelphia has been floating around.

The dispute actually dates back to before Lincoln Financial Field was built. Everytime this story has cropped up, my response has always been the same.... Why has this not been settled in court yet? We have sports writers commenting on something they know little about, we have the team saying one thing, city saying the other, secret deals with previous mayors, protests, new disputes... It's been such nonsense. This back and forth has gone on for 7 years for no reason at all.

Finally, the courts have weighed in and the matter is finally resolved. The Eagles will pay the city $8 million in luxury box revenue from Veteran's stadium. The Eagles released this 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.

The second half of the dispute comes from a canceled 2001 preseason game at Veterans Stadium. This time it's the Eagles who claim the city owes them money. A judge is expected to rule on that next week.

I'm happy to see the silly dispute being close to solved and I'll be happy to never have to hear of it again.