TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Mar 24, 2022

The Tennessee Court of Appeals yesterday upheld a lower court ruling that Graceland doesn’t have standing to challenge a contract between Memphis and Shelby County governments and the FedExForum, the Daily Memphian reports. The long-running legal dispute began in 2014 after Graceland expanded its Whitehaven campus using a tax increment financing district. Three years later, Graceland sought an increased draw on the increment to finance a 6,200-seat arena as part of the campus. City and county leaders rejected the funding, citing the Memphis Grizzlies’ agreement with city and county governments to operate FedExForum. That deal included a noncompete clause barring the city and county from funding an arena with more than 5,000 fixed seats. The appeals court upheld Chancellor Jim Kyle’s dismissal of the case because Graceland was not a party to the arena agreement.