## Facts

- The City owned Yankee Stadium and leased it to the New York Yankees under a long-term agreement requiring the Yankees to play all home games at the stadium through 2002.
- The City performed substantial renovations and planned permanent structural repairs for the period between the 1982 season’s end and the start of the 1983 season, with Yankees participation in planning.
- The repair schedule created some risk the work would not be fully complete by the first 1983 home series (April 11–13, 1983).
- The City communicated its expectation that the work would be completed by the season’s start but noted possible delays due to factors such as weather; it later offered “best efforts” rather than an absolute guarantee and stated that, at worst, 1,000–2,000 seats might be unavailable.
- The Yankees requested broader assurances, including that no debris would be visible and that every seat would be available.
- In November 1982, the Yankees notified the City they intended to play the opening home series in Denver and delay the first “home” game in New York until April 15.
- The City sued and sought a preliminary injunction to prevent the Yankees from executing any agreement to play the series in Denver, alleging a threatened violation of the lease.

## Issues

1. Whether the City’s conditional statements about repair completion and its refusal to give an absolute guarantee constituted an anticipatory breach or repudiation excusing the Yankees from playing the opening series at Yankee Stadium.
2. Whether waiver or estoppel barred the City from enforcing the lease’s home-game requirement.
3. Whether the City satisfied the requirements for a preliminary injunction, including likelihood of success, irreparable harm, and a balance of equities in its favor.

## Decision

- The court granted the City’s motion for a preliminary injunction.
- The Yankees were enjoined from executing any agreement to play the opening 1983 home series in Denver pending trial.
- The court found a strong likelihood the City would succeed on the merits, that the City would suffer irreparable harm without injunctive relief, and that the equities favored the City.

## Legal Principles

- Anticipatory repudiation requires a clear, definite, and unequivocal refusal to perform; cautious or conditional statements coupled with continued efforts to perform are insufficient.
- Waiver requires an intentional relinquishment of a known right; consistent insistence on contractual performance and prompt resort to litigation generally defeats waiver claims.
- Equitable estoppel requires misleading conduct and reasonable detrimental reliance; conditional construction updates and “best efforts” assurances do not necessarily support reliance sufficient to bar enforcement.
- A preliminary injunction may issue in a contract dispute where the movant shows likelihood of success, irreparable harm not adequately remedied by damages (including intangible civic and reputational harms), and a balance of hardships favoring enforcement of the contractual obligation.

## Conclusion

The court preliminarily enforced the stadium lease by barring the Yankees from relocating the opening home series, concluding that the City had not repudiated its obligations, equitable defenses were unproven, and the City faced irreparable and non-compensable harms if the team played “home” games outside New York.


City of New York v. N.Y. Yankees, 458 N.Y.S.2d 486 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1983)