Owner Kraft holds line on ticket prices
Actions speak louder than words, and Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who several times throughout the team's recent postseason run thanked the fans of New England for a decade of support, is showing his appreciation by keeping Gillette Stadium ticket prices where they've been the past two seasons.
The Patriots have increased ticket prices three times since 1995. By contrast, the Red Sox have done so nine consecutive seasons, the Celtics in each of the past two, and the Bruins twice in the past three.
"It's a way to cap a perfect season at home, an amazing decade, and give a `thank you' to your season ticket-holders and fans," Patriots vice chairman Jonathan Kraft said yesterday.
This coming season will be the Patriots' third in Gillette. The Kraft family has not increased ticket costs since the team moved from Foxboro Stadium following the 2001 season. The Patriots' average ticket price last year, according to the Team Marketing Report, was a league-high $75.33 (not including luxury suites); that's more than 33 percent higher than the league average of $52.95. According to the Team Marketing Report, it cost a family of four $405.22 to attend a Patriots home game last year.
"But we also have a brand-new stadium," Kraft said. "It's the only 100 percent privately financed -- legitimately privately financed -- stadium that did not charge personal seat licences."
The Patriots went undefeated at home last year for the first time in franchise history, allowing a league-record (eight games) 68 points during the regular season. "When you think about games like Miami, Tennessee, the undefeated record at home, a Super Bowl championship, 10 years of sellouts, it's everything that demands a raise in ticket prices," Kraft said. "But we felt it was the right thing to do to leave them where they've been the last two years."
The Patriots are one of six teams who have not increased ticket prices the past two years. The Saints, Raiders, Seahawks, Redskins, and Chargers are the others.
But seriously . . .
Usually there is some truth in humor, but apparently that was not the case with regard to Kliff Kingsbury's recent comments during a gathering of the New Braunfels (Texas) Downtown Rotary Club, or as Kingsbury calls it, "a big laugh fest with my dad and a bunch of old men I've known my whole life."
Kingsbury, who spent his rookie season on injured reserve with the Patriots, was quoted in last Thursday's New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung as saying, "I thought I had a pretty good training camp. At the end of camp, [Bill] Belichick called me into his office. After me complimented me, he told me, `From now on, you're going to be hurt.' "
But under league rules, a team that places players who are not hurt on injured reserve face severe penalties from the league. Kingsbury clarified his remarks yesterday, claiming that he in fact suffered from elbow problems ("nothing life-threatening") and that his statements weren't intended to be taken seriously.
"Basically, we were just joking," Kingsbury said. "They were all wondering how I could get hurt after I took so many hits at Texas Tech. I was just trying to get some laughs. Somehow the [reporter] wrote it down as fact. I guess everybody else knew I was joking. What was said had no validity to it."
Kingsbury expects to compete for the backup quarterback job next year. Damon Huard is an unrestricted free agent, and Rohan Davey, a fourth-round pick in 2002, is playing in NFL Europe this spring.
"Sitting out a year, I have a lot of football built up in me," he said. "Now it's just a matter of getting out there. They could bring in a number of guys and say it's wide open. Especially with this team, the best guy is going to play. I'm just going to do the best I can."
