Robert Kraft
Since 1994, the Patriots have enjoyed the most prosperous period in franchise history, eclipsing in just a decade the accomplishments of the team’s previous 34 seasons. Over the last 10 seasons, the Patriots have appeared in 13 playoff games with six different teams that produced four division championships, three conference championships and two Super Bowl championships. It is a stark contrast from the 10 playoff games by six different teams in the franchise’s first 34 years of operation. Those teams produced just three division titles and one conference title.
When Kraft purchased the team, the Patriots were last in the NFL in both revenue and attendance and were a distant fourth among the Boston area’s professional sports teams, both in terms of local interest and overall success of the franchises. Since then, the Patriots are the only New England franchise to have won multiple conference and league titles and they own the highest winning percentage of the region’s four professional teams over the past decade. The Patriots are also among the NFL’s elite in revenue and enter the 2004 season with a 10-year consecutive sellout streak that will extend to 114 games by season’s end.
Kraft has also become one of the NFL’s most influential and respected owners in a short period of time. It took just four seasons before he was appointed the chairman of the league’s finance committee in 1998. He also played a leading role as a member of the television and broadcast committee that negotiated the most lucrative broadcast contract in the history of sports. He was instrumental in putting together a deal that made New England-headquartered Reebok International, Ltd. the official and exclusive apparel manufacturer for the NFL, helping to create a new model for the sports license apparel industry. In 2002, he was recognized as the Sports Executive of the Year and Sports Industrialist of the Year by two national publications. He currently serves on the league’s most prominent committees, including the broadcast, finance, audit, investment, Los Angeles working group, business operations and NFL business ventures committees.
Since 1994, the Patriots have enjoyed the most prosperous period in franchise history, eclipsing in just a decade the accomplishments of the team’s previous 34 seasons. Over the last 10 seasons, the Patriots have appeared in 13 playoff games with six different teams that produced four division championships, three conference championships and two Super Bowl championships. It is a stark contrast from the 10 playoff games by six different teams in the franchise’s first 34 years of operation. Those teams produced just three division titles and one conference title.
When Kraft purchased the team, the Patriots were last in the NFL in both revenue and attendance and were a distant fourth among the Boston area’s professional sports teams, both in terms of local interest and overall success of the franchises. Since then, the Patriots are the only New England franchise to have won multiple conference and league titles and they own the highest winning percentage of the region’s four professional teams over the past decade. The Patriots are also among the NFL’s elite in revenue and enter the 2004 season with a 10-year consecutive sellout streak that will extend to 114 games by season’s end.
Kraft has also become one of the NFL’s most influential and respected owners in a short period of time. It took just four seasons before he was appointed the chairman of the league’s finance committee in 1998. He also played a leading role as a member of the television and broadcast committee that negotiated the most lucrative broadcast contract in the history of sports. He was instrumental in putting together a deal that made New England-headquartered Reebok International, Ltd. the official and exclusive apparel manufacturer for the NFL, helping to create a new model for the sports license apparel industry. In 2002, he was recognized as the Sports Executive of the Year and Sports Industrialist of the Year by two national publications. He currently serves on the league’s most prominent committees, including the broadcast, finance, audit, investment, Los Angeles working group, business operations and NFL business ventures committees.
