Constructing Gillette Stadium

摘要

On November 16, 1959, the American Football League awarded a group headed by Bill Sullivan, Jr. its eighth and final franchise. The team was named the Boston Patriots and, beginning in 1960, played their first three seasons at Boston University Field. In 1971, after playing at five different venues including Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama, the team moved to its new, and now per- manent home, in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The team was renamed the New England Patriots. Robert K. Kraft purchased the team on January 21, 1994, saving it from a possible move out- .vicle of New Knglancl. With a growing waiting list for season tick- els and nearly every game being sold out, the Kraft's needed a new stadium. Their first choice was to relocate to downtown Boston; however, a suitable site could not be agreed upon. Then Connecticut made an offer to build the Patriots a new stadium in downtown Hartford. There were many complications with the proposed site and the Krafts did not want to leave the Boston area. They elected to finance their own stadium and build it in Foxboro, next to the existing stadium. Gillette Stadium is also home for Major League Soccer's New England Revolution.