The city of San Diego and SeaWorld have settled their lawsuit in which city officials claimed the park failed to pay more than $12.2 million in rent, late fees and interest.

The settlement calls for SeaWorld to pay $8.5 million to the city and provide:

— Free season passes for teachers in San Diego on an annual basis for five years;

— One free admission per year for active-duty military members and veterans for five years;

– 1,000 SeaWorld tickets, which the city will provide to local school districts.

SeaWorld issued a statement Tuesday saying, “We are grateful to have found a resolution to this matter and look forward to continuing our strong partnership with the City of San Diego in the years to come.” We value our collaboration with the city.” We have been part of the San Diego community for 60 years and look forward to many years of collaboration.

In its lawsuit, the city alleged that SeaWorld underpaid rent between Jan. 1, 2019 and April 30, 2022, while SeaWorld argued that the payments were waived because the theme park was forced to close for months during the coronavirus pandemic .

After the lawsuit was filed last year, city officials said the park was the only one of 800 city tenants with similar leases to fall behind on unpaid rent since the start of the pandemic.