The Tennessee Supreme Court has agreed to hear a specific part of Graceland’s argument that it should be allowed to seek public financing for a 6,200-seat arena in Whitehaven.

The court filed an order July 21 approving Graceland’s appeal of a December 2019 state appeals court ruling that upheld the dismissal of the case against the city of Memphis in Shelby County Chancery Court.

No date has been set for the oral arguments before the Tennessee Supreme Court. All sides are to file briefs in the matter.

Graceland’s lawsuit challenges the city’s interpretation of the agreement it and the county made with the Memphis Grizzlies for operation and management of FedExForum.

The specific part of that agreement involved in the lawsuit is the clause that forbids local government from providing “economic or tax benefits or incentives” to any new indoor arena with a seating capacity of more than 5,000 or fewer than 50,000 that would compete with the Forum.

Appeals court backs dismissal of Graceland lawsuit against city, county, Grizzlies

Elvis Presley Enterprises unveiled plans for the arena in 2017 as a next phase of a three-year-old expansion of its Whitehaven campus that included the 450-room Guest House at Graceland hotel and resort. The first phase of the expansion included a tax increment financing – or TIF – incentive involving the use of property taxes and approved by the EDGE – Economic Development Growth Engine – board.

That’s when the part of the Grizzlies organization that operates FedExForum objected, and the city as well as the county argued the noncompete clause would be violated with that financing.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland also said the city could not and should not provide public financing for an arena. Additionally, Strickland said there was nothing stopping Graceland from providing its own private financing for the project.

Graceland filed the first in a series of lawsuits later in 2017. A second lawsuit in 2018 was filed after the first one was dismissed for lack of standing, leading Chancellor Jim Kyle to dismiss the second lawsuit. Kyle’s dismissal was based on the dismissal of the first lawsuit and no new arguments in the second.

The appeals court upheld the dismissal and that dismissal is what the Tennessee Supreme Court has agreed to hear.

Since the lawsuits were filed, the city and Elvis Presley Enterprises have reached agreement on a plan for Graceland to pursue other parts of its campus expansion minus the arena as the lawsuits over the arena are decided in court.