3SeaWorld San Diego may be thrown into hot water by the city of San Diego.
On Monday, May 15, the San Diego City Council decided to take action against SeaWorld for what they call “greed and arrogance.” The council is suing the theme Park in hopes of over $12 million in back rent that they say the Park failed to pay during the pandemic closures.
This comes shortly after SeaWorld’s quarterly revenue report, going public at the same time as similar theme park corporations like Six Flags and Disney. SeaWorld reported record revenue at $293.3 million, up 8.4 percent compared with the first quarter of 2022, and 33 percent higher than the same quarter in 2019, before the pandemic.
Council President Sean Elo-Rivera (District 9) released a statement saying, “Despite publicly touting record revenues as recently as last week, SeaWorld continues to refuse to pay the over $12 million they owe the City in past due rent, penalties, and interest.” Although the suit has yet to be filed, the council became fully authorized to pursue litigation against the Park in an 8-0 vote.
The move comes two years after city officials first warned SeaWorld that it was in default on lease payments it owed for most of 2020 and a portion of 2021. It remains the only lessee among the city’s hundreds of tenants that is in default on its rent. A formal audit conducted by the city treasurer last year revealed that SeaWorld owed over $9.7 million in unpaid rent, plus approximately $12,000 to cover the cost of the audit.
SeaWorld has failed to pay up over the last two years, even after multiple attempts. They previously argued that earlier in the pandemic, when theme parks were shut down completely, it was not required to make their minimum rent payments during the mandated closure. However, city officials rebutted, explaining that there was nothing in the lease or the law to justify that conclusion.
In a statement last year, SeaWorld San Diego’s then-Chief Operating Officer Jay Goldstone said that while the Park was closed, they still had animals to care for, rescues to carry out, and rides to periodically test to ensure they were working, even while they were collecting no revenue. The City, however, states that their financial burden was no greater than similar institutions and they need to pay up.
City attorney Mara W. Elliott commented; “SeaWorld’s greed and arrogance are offensive, and the City will hold it accountable.”