Blues Hockey Team Reaches Financing Settlement With City

ST. LOUIS, MO — The owners of the St. Louis Blues hockey team have reached a settlement with the city over a financing dispute. In December, the team asked a circuit court judge to fine city comptroller Darlene Green $1,000 a day until she released a signed copy of a $64 million agreement for renovations to Scottrade Center, where the Blues play. The agreement was narrowly passed by the Board of Aldermen in February and calls on the city to issue $64 million in bonds to fund the facility's renovations. Green, the city's chief financial official, refused to signed the agreement, saying the debt — which, with interest, would cost St. Louis more than $100 million over three decades — endangered the city's credit rating.

A judge ordered Green to sign the agreement in November, after the Blues' owners filed suit. Green signed the agreement, but said she would not release it until her appeals made their way through court.

The Post-Dispatch reports the settlement announced today will let the city offset payments with additional revenue not taken from the general fund. Both the city and the team have dismissed their suits and agreed to pay their own court costs. Green said the deal would mitigate the cost to the city and its credit rating and was in the best interest of taxpayers.

Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Sports/Getty Images