Liverpool FC Forum

[daddyo]

Apparently we're being considered for another takeover by the Kraft family(?).

Haven't they been mentioned before, and has anyone heard anymore?


http://www.tribalfootball.com/september/englhnews2140905.html

[The_Rock]

Heard it in kop-talk too.

http://www.koptalk.org/forums....1

Liverpool take-over talk returns

Thai media tycoon Paiboon Damrongchaitham has revealed that he's still pushing ahead with plans to buy into Liverpool Football Club.

The GMM Grammy chairman said yesterday that a deal was still possible with talks planned with Liverpool chiefs in the future.

"The negotiations will resume in autumn, in another year," said Paiboon, who cited the take-over of club sponsor Reebok by Adidas for delaying things.

GMM Grammy Plc is set to become Thailand's largest multimedia group with the proposed purchase of two major publishing firms, Post Publishing Plc and Matichon Plc.

Meanwhile seperate newspaper reports in Britain today claim that the lucrative American Kraft family could soon return to launch another attempt to take-over the club. The Krafts were L4's primary investor when L4 were active last year but we understand that the consortium which included Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish won't be returning to the table. Although this doesn't mean that the Krafts couldn't work alone.

Property tycoon Steve Morgan is still hovering in the background despite suggestions that he had ended his interest in investing.

We're very suspicious that the take-over topic has returned. If pushed we'd say that someone within Anfield is trying to re-ignite interest.

We nailed our colours to the mast last time about what we'd favour but we aren't going to go down that route again. Admittedly the Krafts would certainly help the club explode financially but without the other key members of L4 on board, we don't think there'd be enough 'football people' involved.

[simic_ie]

Tribal football and Koptalk

Two of the most reliable sources in the web right there

[Paul C]

Tribal football and Koptalk

Two of the most reliable sources in the web right there

*cough* Daily Mail *cough*

[LiverpoolMadman]

Goos news ... with that we will have more money and can buy new CB and RM ....

[ry_math]

im against it! yes we will have more money....but there not liverpool fc fans! david moores heart is with liverpool! AND  id hate to be like another chel$ki who have to buy there way to the title:angry:

[mighty mo]

the kraft family have good credentials the work and imput they have done with the all conquering new england patriots has been awesome and if they replicated that for liverpool who would complain

[DrTNT]

If it is true it is of course excellent news as it obviously should increase the finances available to Rafa. Looking at what they achieved with the New England Patriots if they do take over LFC it could another sign of good things to come (the first sign being the CL final win in Rafa's first season). This justs shows how winning the CL has given LFC world wide notability. 

[L-type]

If the club must be sold, I hope the Kraft's have the highest bid.  They like to leave things the way they are, but do whats best for the club in the long run.  When Kraft bought the Patriots he fired hugely popular coach Bill Parcells and brought in his own man, Bill Billicheck (sp?)  They started off slowly but eventually they had gone from perennial last place finishers to become the new dynasty team.

[tubby]

Its true we do need major investment. Were lucky we have Rafa and quite a few goof players that helped us win it last season but unless money is invested soon it may all go to waste. Were as good as good as the likes of Chelsea and Man utd but financially were behind them. If someone could pump in 20-25mil per season we could really start to think about dominating the domestic leage as well as Europe. I hope something happens soon.

[matrix]

i heard this last season about the kraft family being involved with liverpool  but until i hear solid reports coming from liverpool fc  im taking this with a pinch of salt   but any news on a liverpool investment is of course good news lets just see what comes of it 

[Judge]

when i win the 50 mill  on the euro lottery, im buying into lfc

[Paul C]

I think the Kraft deal would be good news, other people like Morgan and the Thai's I'm not to sure about, if the Kraft's have more to put into the club then I'm all for it

[Paul C]

Some info on the Kraft group from Koptalk:

The last time I was this excited, Michael Owen banged in his third for England against Germany which netted me £6700 from Ladbrokes. At 66-1 only an idiot would have backed the then Liverpool striker to score a hat-trick on German soil but sometimes you just get hunches and when I get a hunch, I stick with it. That's why I've been showing enthusiasm towards the L4 Group and now that one of the cats in Robert Kraft is out of the bag, you can see why.

What really excites me is the way Robert Kraft recently went about his way building a new 70,000 state-of-the-art, all-seater stadium. It cost approximately $350million and a single cheque was written as easily and quickly as it takes me to buy a dozen sausage rolls from Woodheads. The stadium boasts 350 food and resfreshment stands, 1,000 television monitors, 2,000 luxury suite seats, 14,000 parking spaces and 60 blocks of toilets. Even the ordinary fan like you and I don't have to sit in uncomfortable, hard plastic seats. No expense was spared on making sure that all supporters have a nice seat in which to rest their backsides. There'd be no excuse for a groundshare if Kraft was involved but would the L4 Group dig that deep to secure our own home? I hope and pray that they will if they strike a deal with the club.

Numerous Liverpool FC luminaries are supporting the L4 Group's advances. Robert Kraft himself has a keen interest in Liverpool FC results after speaking in-depth to former Red Steve Nicol who manages Kraft's New England Revolution. Nicol however isn't the Liverpool FC legend that I referred to in my exclusive earlier this week. Steve Nicol is a Liverpool legend in his own right but the man I refer to is every Liverpool fan's idol. And although our young supporters will never have seen him play in the flesh, their parents will have educated them as to why this person is one of the greatest ever players to have represented the Reds.

I don't know what the future holds and I don't know what's right for Liverpool Football Club. What I do know is that the people involved with the L4 Group have made substantial progress in getting a foot in the door. They're making the right noises. They have credible business experience and investors on board and all of them, Kraft included, have an interest in football and want to see Liverpool challenging for everything. What I really like hearing is that they don't want Liverpool FC just to be marketed in the U.S. but that they want us to be marketed in every part of the world. They want Liverpool FC to dominate European football and to be bigger than Real Madrid.

One of our Insider members today approached someoneone, an Englishman based out in the U.S. who had this to say: "The New England Patriots are a very well run organisation from the top to the bottom. The owners dont have the mentality that the solution is found just by throwing money at it. The are one of the top teams in the NFL and have continued to be up there by hiring good coaches, buying good players and letting the coaches get on with the job of coaching and playing the game how they want. If Kraft where to buy into Liverpool then I wouldnt bet against them being the top team in England or maybe Europe within a few years." Let's hope he's right.

The ins and outs of any such investment may not be attractive. I really don't know but I doubt it. That's for the club to decide. I do know though that the board room is very excited about these developments. However, it is claimed that at least one key figure at the club would prefer to strike a deal with the Thais but they have significantly reduced their offer after examining the club's finances. If Kraft does invest, David Moores would have to dilute some of his own shares. He could however remain at the club but I feel he may jump ship. If the L4 Group succeed and negotiate a deal with the club I am almost certain that a new Chief Executive would be appointed. I believe the same would happen if Morgan was to buy into the club. Liverpool FC need Kraft more than Kraft needs Liverpool FC so I hope that the club acts fast and can find an outcome that will finally suit us all.

ROBERT KRAFT

Robert Kraft announced his intentions to bring New England a championship the day he bought the New England Patriots in 1994. It didn’t take long for him to deliver. Since taking ownership just a decade ago, no NFL team has won as many conference championships or more Super Bowl championships than the Patriots. Kraft has presided over a remarkable transformation for the once fatalistic franchise that was known more for its folly than its football. After winning two of the last three Super Bowls, the New England Patriots are now viewed as a model NFL franchise.

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.

Last year, the Kraft family enjoyed a historic 10th anniversary season that culminated with another championship celebration just two seasons after winning the first title in team history. After suffering a season-opening loss, the Patriots rebounded to win 17 of their next 18 games, including a season-ending 15-game win streak, the longest in franchise history and the sixth longest in NFL history. For the first time, the Patriots were undefeated at home, including preseason, regular season and postseason games (12-0). The team hosted their second AFC Championship Game in franchise history and defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 24-14, to claim their third conference title in eight years. The final coronation of the anniversary season came just two weeks later, when the Patriots scored another dramatic, last-second victory in a 32-29 triumph over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII. The game was the most-watched television broadcast in history, drawing an astronomical audience of 144.4 million Americans. Two days later, the Patriots were welcomed home by 1.5 million fans who lined the streets of Boston to celebrate the team’s second Super Bowl championship in three seasons and to recognize the accomplishment of the team’s 17-2 overall record, the third-best record in NFL history.

In 2002, the Kraft family enjoyed the most memorable season-opener in franchise history when they celebrated the grand opening of Gillette Stadium with the unveiling of New England’s first Super Bowl championship banner on the Monday Night Football season premiere. The Patriots defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, 30-14, that night before the largest home crowd in franchise history. Since its opening, the Patriots are 15-3 at Gillette Stadium and have already recorded some of the most dramatic and memorable games in the team’s history.

As a 31-year season ticket holder and a 14-year stadium operator, Kraft was uniquely qualified to make Gillette Stadium the most fan-friendly, state-of-the-art football facility of its kind. His $325 million private investment remains the highest-priced, privately-financed sports venue of its kind. The commitment from Kraft has given the franchise a solid foundation on which to build for the first time in its nomadic history. Finally, fans have a venue that they are proud to call home.

In 2001, the Patriots made their final season in Foxboro Stadium a memorable one. After a 1-3 start, the Patriots won 10 of their last 11 regular season games to claim their first division title in four years. In the final game at the 31-year-old stadium, the Patriots hosted the Oakland Raiders in a divisional playoff matchup. A heavy snowfall throughout the game created a heavenly ambience, as Adam Vinatieri was credited with game-tying and game-winning field goals in a 16-13 overtime victory over the Raiders. It was described by many as one of the greatest, most memorable games in NFL history. The victory propelled the Patriots through one of the greatest playoff runs in NFL history, as they advanced to score dramatic victories over two heavily favored opponents in championship games, including a 24-17 victory over the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh and a 20-17 victory over the St. Louis Rams on the final play in Super Bowl XXXVI.

Throughout Kraft’s professional career, many of his biggest risks have returned his greatest rewards. In 1988, he took a tremendous risk when he out-bid his competition to purchase the stadium in which the Patriots played. It was a calculated first step in his pursuit to acquire the team. When that opportunity came in 1994, he paid the highest price for a sports franchise in history for one of the lowest-valued franchises in the league. In 2000, his controversial decision to surrender a first-round draft choice to acquire the services of Head Coach Bill Belichick was heavily criticized at the time and thought to be too high a price. Just four years later, Belichick is the reigning NFL Coach of the Year and has led the Patriots to two Super Bowl championships in the past three seasons.

In January of 1994, Kraft faced a difficult business decision. He could commit nearly $200 million of family resources to purchase the Patriots or accept a $75 million buyout offer to void the final years of the team’s stadium lease, which would enable the team to move out of New England.

On Jan. 21, 1994, Kraft passed on the buyout offer, choosing instead to make an 11th-hour bid to buy the team. The sale met league approval on Feb. 25, 1994. The following day, season tickets for the 1994 season went on sale and Patriots fans showed their support of Kraft’s decision in record numbers. By the end of that first business day, amidst a winter nor’easter, 5,958 season ticket orders had been made, shattering the previous single-day sales record of 979. That show of support validated Kraft’s decision to buy the team and gave him the confidence to focus on another long-term project: the construction of a state-of-the-art football facility.

Kraft first became a fan of the Boston Patriots in their AFL days during the early 1960s. He attended games at each of the team’s Boston venues, which included Boston University Field, Fenway Park, Boston College Alumni Stadium and Harvard Stadium. When the team moved to Foxborough, he invested in season tickets for his family in 1971. It is the memories and experiences shared with other Patriots fans over those first 42 years that gives Kraft such satisfaction in building a new stadium that the players and fans can be proud to call home.

In 1994, Kraft inherited a team whose payroll in 1993 was the lowest in the NFL. Upon taking ownership, Kraft immediately provided the financial resources needed to build a championship-contending team. As a result, the Patriots fielded four playoff teams in Kraft’s first five seasons of ownership and won two division titles and a conference title. His personal investment in the team restored the faith of Patriots fans and rejuvenated interest throughout New England. In 1994, season ticket sales soared to new heights, eclipsing 40,000 for the first time in franchise history. By the start of his first season, every game was sold out, a feat that had not been accomplished in the franchise’s previous 34 seasons. That meant that the local broadcast blackouts would be lifted and every Patriots game, home and away, would be televised throughout New England for the first time in team history.

In his first year of ownership, Patriots fans were rewarded with a dramatic playoff race when the team put together a season-ending seven-game win streak that propelled them into the playoffs for the first time in eight years. In just one year, the Patriots had taken a quantum leap.

In 1996, the Patriots won their first division title in 10 years and hosted just their second playoff game in franchise history, scoring a resounding 28-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The following week, the Patriots hosted the franchise’s first conference championship game and advanced to Super Bowl XXXI with a 20-6 victory over Jacksonville.

In 1997, the Patriots repeated as division champions for the first time in franchise history and hosted Miami in the first round of the playoffs. The Patriots improved to 3-0 in home playoff games during Kraft’s ownership with a 17-3 victory. A one-point loss in the divisional playoff game at Pittsburgh the following week kept the Patriots from hosting their second consecutive AFC Championship Game and from defending their conference title. In 1998, the Patriots returned to the playoffs for a third consecutive year, another franchise first.

A native of Brookline, Mass., Kraft attended local public schools before entering Columbia University on an academic scholarship. Upon graduation, he received a fellowship to attend the Harvard Business School, where he earned a master’s degree in business administration.

Kraft began his business career with the Rand-Whitney Group, Inc. of Worcester, Mass., a company he later acquired. In 1972, he founded International Forest Products, a trader of paper commodities that now does business in over 80 countries around the world. Together, Rand-Whitney and International Forest Products comprise one of the largest privately-owned paper and packaging companies in the United States. In 1998, he founded the Kraft Group to serve as the holding company for the family’s varied business interests, whose holdings include the Rand-Whitney Group, Rand-Whitney Containerboard, International Forest Products, the New England Revolution and a portfolio of more than 30 private equity investments.

Over the past three decades, the Kraft family has been one of New England’s most philanthropic families, donating millions of dollars in support of local charities and civic affairs. In 2004, the family received the Lifetime Achievement Award during an annual sports legends event called The Tradition in Boston. They were also recognized as Boston’s most powerful family by Boston magazine. Robert serves on the executive committee of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he established the Robert K. Kraft Family Blood Donor Center. He is a trustee of his alma mater at Columbia University. He has served on the board of directors of numerous institutions, including the board of overseers of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and has received honorary degrees from a variety of New England universities. In 2004, he delivered the commencement address at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I.

For Robert Kraft and his son Jonathan, 2002 was a year they will never forget. In January, they celebrated the closing of Foxboro Stadium with the most memorable game in franchise history, as the Patriots knocked off the Oakland Raiders in a dramatic, come-from-behind victory in overtime. In February, they celebrated New England’s first Super Bowl Championship with a game-winning field goal as time expired to give the Patriots a stunning 20-17 victory over the St. Louis Rams. In May, they received the Environmental Merit Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for their outstanding efforts in preserving New England’s environment during the construction of Gillette Stadium, which included the daylighting and restoration of the Neponset River.

Later that month, they celebrated a New England Revolution 2-0 victory over the Dallas Burn in the first official event at their new, privately-financed $325 million stadium. Also in May, the Krafts received another high honor when Rand-Whitney Containerboard received the 2002 U.S. Postal Service Quality Supplier Award. In August, they announced a new naming rights deal, partnering with the Boston-based Gillette Company. In October, the Krafts witnessed the rise of the Revolution, as the team advanced through the playoffs and into the MLS Cup. The championship game was hosted at Gillette Stadium and played before a record-shattering soccer crowd of 61,316 fans. In December, their year-long accomplishments were recognized by two of the sports industry’s top trade publications. Both the Sports Business Journal and the Sports Business Daily selected the Krafts for their highest honors. The Sports Business Journal named Robert Kraft their Sports Executive of the Year, while the Sports Business Daily presented their Sports Industrialists of the Year award to both Robert and Jonathan Kraft. Past award winners include NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue (2000) and NBA Commissioner David Stern (1995), as well as television executives George Bodenheimer (2001) and David Hill (1997).

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When Robert Kraft purchased the New England Patriots in 1994, it was his son Jonathan whose behind-the-scenes negotiating skills helped finalize the deal and secure the risk-filled financing that was needed for the Kraft family to purchase the team for what was then the highest price ever paid for a sports franchise.

Years later, it was Jonathan once again who developed a creative financing strategy that enabled the family to privately-finance the entire $325 million construction project of Gillette Stadium without the popularly utilized personal seat licenses that are used by many publicly-financed stadiums. Many financial experts dismissed the viability of the plan, but Kraft’s business acumen, foresight and willingness to expand and take risks have made the New England Patriots one of the NFL’s most innovative and successful franchises.

In 10 seasons since the family purchased the team, Kraft’s hands-on approach has helped the organization find previously untapped financial resources that have contributed to making the Patriots one of the league’s most consistent and competitive teams in a league environment that promotes and rewards parity.

As vice chairman, he oversees the overall development of each department within the organization and assists in their strategic planning. He also works closely with his father to represent the Patriots in all league matters and is on two NFL owner committees. In addition to the Patriots, Kraft also plays a leading role in each of the family’s other business pursuits as the president and chief operating officer of the Kraft Group. The Kraft Group is the holding company of Rand-Whitney Containerboard, the Rand-Whitney Group, International Forest Products, the New England Revolution and a portfolio of more than 30 private-equity investments.

Throughout the stadium initiative, Kraft engineered the organization’s efforts in the planning, development, construction and eventual opening of Gillette Stadium. He worked closely with stadium designers throughout the project in an effort to create a world-class sports and entertainment facility that would also feature designs indigenous to New England. Together, they created a fan-friendly facility that is unique to New England and will serve as a model for future stadium projects worldwide. The 68,756-seat stadium, the proud home of both the New England Patriots and the New England Revolution, is one of the premier sports and entertainment facilities in the world.

An important part of the overall financing plan for the stadium was the utilization of the stadium’s Fidelity Investments Clubhouse. With over 120,000 square feet of function space in the clubhouse, Gillette Stadium operates as a year-round convention center, offering club members access to the facility for private or corporate functions 365 days per year.

The construction project also drew praise for its innovative environmental practices, including the daylighting and restoration of the Neponset River as well as the recycling of rock, on-site resources and materials that were re-used throughout construction. In addition, the site also features a new wastewater treatment facility that more efficiently recycles the stadium’s water. In June of 2001, the Environmental Business Council presented the Kraft Group with the Environmental Award for Corporate Leadership. Then, in May of 2002, the Kraft Group received New England’s Environmental Merit Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the development and construction of Gillette Stadium.

In 2002, Jonathan and Robert Kraft were recipients of the 2002 Sports Industrialists of the Year award, which was presented by the Sports Business Daily in recognition of one of the most successful years a sports owner has ever enjoyed. The award is the highest honor presented by the publication. In 2002, the Krafts not only unveiled their privately-financed, state-of-the-art stadium but did so as Super Bowl champions, presenting it to their fans with a spectacular grand opening celebration on the 2002 season premiere of Monday Night Football. In October, the New England Revolution qualified for the MLS Cup, which was played at Gillette Stadium and drew 61,316 fans, the largest crowd in MLS history.

As a lifelong Patriots fan, Kraft is committed to expanding the Patriots fan base through innovative multi-media outreach. Under Kraft’s directive, the Patriots were World Wide Web pioneers, launching the first official Web site for a professional sports team, www.patriots.com, in March of 1995. In April of 1995, the Patriots began publishing the franchise’s first full-color team newspaper, Patriots Football Weekly. It was the first full-color weekly publication offered by a sports team. It appears on newsstands throughout New England and is distributed to Patriots fans throughout the world.

In 1997, the team’s Web site launched the first nightly streaming video, a produced video segment called Patriots Video News (PVN). Patriots Video News airs nightly and is catalogued for viewing throughout the season. The technology is also used to broadcast "Patriots Live!," which features live feeds of every Patriots press conference.

The Patriots’ Internet growth also includes a highly successful e-commerce division, providing Patriots fans around the world easy access to Patriots merchandise and apparel. Following the Super Bowl XXXVI championship, Kraft commissioned the production of a DVD entitled "3 Games to Glory," providing fans an opportunity to re-live three of the most glorious games in franchise history. Just two years later, he oversaw the production of its sequel, "3 Games to Glory II," which features over five hours of behind-the-scenes bonus footage of the 2003 Super Bowl Champions on a two-disc DVD. The Patriots remain the only team to have ever produced and sold such a commemorative DVD.

Prior to building Gillette Stadium, the Kraft family had owned and operated Foxboro Stadium since 1988. During that time, Kraft helped bring many world-class events to Foxborough, including international soccer events and a variety of major concerts. Past performers include The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Elton John, Billy Joel, Pink Floyd and The Dave Matthews Band. For his efforts, the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, Inc. presented him with the "Spirit of Tourism" award for promoting tourism and economic activity in the Commonwealth.

A Williams College graduate, Kraft received his MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is on the board of directors for several organizations, including the U.S. Soccer Federation and Children’s Hospital Trust. He is also on the board of trustees at Williams College, the Belmont Hill School and Park School.

Jonathan and his wife, Patti, have three children.

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Sunil Gulati (President of Kraft Soccer)


One of the most experienced U.S. soccer executives on the national and international levels, Sunil Gulati is in his fourth year as the Managing Director of Kraft Soccer. He represents Kraft Soccer at the MLS Board of Governors and Soccer United Marketing Board of Directors. Gulati is a member of Major League Soccer's Competition and Audit Finance Committees.

Gulati, a native of Allahabad, India, has played a major role in the development of U.S. Soccer since the early 1980's and is currently U.S. Soccer's Executive Vice President. Previously, amongst a number of roles, Gulati has served as Managing Director of National Teams, Chairman of the International Games Committee, Chairman of the Technical Committee and Managing Director of U.S. Soccer's Project 2010.

In additional to serving on the U.S. World Cup bid committee in 1986-88, he was Executive Vice President and Chief International Officer for World Cup USA 1994. He served on the Board of Women's World Cup USA 1999 and is currently a member of the U.S. Soccer Foundation Board of Directors. On the international scene, Gulati is Chairman of the CONCACAF National Team Competitions Committee and serves on the FIFA World Club Championship Committee.

Before coming to Kraft Soccer, Gulati was the Deputy Commissioner of Major League Soccer from the league's inception until 1999. He was a member of the Young Professionals Program at The World Bank and the Economics Department faculty at Columbia University.

Gulati and his wife, Marcela, have one son, Emilio. They live in New York City.

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Building a Super Stadium by Jon Bowen, Sawing Solutions

This football season, the world champion New England Patriots are getting exactly what they deserve — a spiffy new stadium worthy of a Super Bowl® winner. And when fans file into their seats at Gillette Stadium this fall, they’ll be stepping into the most state-of-the-art sports venue money can buy.

The story of Gillette Stadium begins back in the late 1990s, when Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft made a decision: it was time, he decided, to build a new stadium for the Patriots and their fans. He wanted to give fans better seating and better amenities than what they were used to at the Patriots’ old home, Foxboro Stadium. The old stadium — with its uncomfortable metal bench seating, drab concrete facade and pot-holed concourses — was universally regarded as one of the sorriest sports venues in the country.

Stacey James, director of media relations for the Patriots, says, “Foxboro was utilitarian, done inexpensively just to give the Patriots a home. It lacked the comfort and amenities that so many other fans around the country enjoyed in their home stadiums.”

In contrast, the new stadium is a Cadillac®. The $325 million complex, completed this summer, covers more than 17 acres of land. The stadium, designed by HOK Sport, is a 68,000 seat, open air facility with a natural grass playing surface. With more than 350 concession stands, 1,000 television monitors, 2,000 luxury suite seats and 60 bathrooms, it’s the largest multi-purpose entertainment venue in New England.

“It’s great to give fans this facility, with all the creature comforts of the modern stadium,” says James. “The way the stadium is built, it really highlights fans’ ability to socialize before, during and after the game. For fans, going from Foxboro to Gillette Stadium is, to use a sports cliché, going from worst to first.”

The new stadium has three concourses, one on every level, each one twice as wide as the narrow 35-foot concourse that fans crowded onto at Foxboro Stadium. And every concourse has a clear view of the field, so fans won’t miss the play-by-play action while they’re heading to the concession stand for hot dogs and beer.

One of the most distinctive features of the new stadium is the metal frame lighthouse connected to the stadium’s exterior. Designed to give the complex a uniquely New England feel, the lighthouse towers above a rocky shore lined with seagrass.

This new stadium is the fruition of Kraft’s dream from the 90s. But stadiums don’t get built on dreams alone. Gillette Stadium is the final product of the combined efforts of many different people from many different professions —architects, engineers, and steel suppliers and fabricators — who worked together to build the stadium on a hurry-up schedule. Those are the people who deserve the credit for turning this field of dreams into a reality.

Nuts and Bolts

The ground breaking for the stadium came in the spring of 2000. The project was managed by Beacon-Barton Malow, a joint venture between Beacon Skanska, Inc. of Boston and Barton Malow Company of Southfield, Michigan. Haley & Aldrich provided geotechnical engineering services for the design and construction of the stadium.

One of the first steps in the project was a subsurface exploration program, followed by foundation design for the stadium itself as well as the associated bridges and roadways. Some portions of the site required rock blasting, while other parts needed massive earthwork operations to raise site grade.

Once the site was properly prepared, it was time to get busy with construction. Canadian company Canam Manac Group supplied the structural steel. Canam project manager Dave Pepper says, “We fabricated the steel and delivered it to the site. We used large circular saws and large band saws to do the cutting.” Canam operates a wide range of band saws, including saws made by Hyd-Mech®, Marvel® and Kasto®.

Subcontractor CAPCO Steel Corporation, a Providence, Rhode Island-based company, erected all the structural steel for the super structure of the stadium, using steel supplied by Canam. CAPCO project manager Joe Laughter says, “We were the steel erector and precast erector for Canam. They fabricated the steel, and we erected it for them.”

CAPCO worked on the project for a time span of about 12 months, putting in more than 150,000 hours on the job. At the peak of the construction phase, according to Laughter, they had about 150 working at the site every day. They needed a lot of people on the job because they had a lot of steel to put up. “We had about 13,000 tons of steel,” Laughter says. “It was shipped down from Canada and we took it over in the parking lot. We did a great deal of welding, a great deal of bolting.” CAPCO has band saw machines from both Marvel and HEM®.

Now that Gillette Stadium is open for business, do Laughter and his colleagues get satisfaction from seeing the finished project and knowing they contributed to its construction in a crucial way? “Absolutely,” says Laughter. “It’s pretty impressive to drive by that stadium. CAPCO is very proud of that accomplishment. We do take pride in our work. We have a great deal of satisfaction from completing it on time and under budget for our hometown crowd.”

And personal satisfaction isn’t the only reward. Laughter says that other people are taking notice of CAPCO’s performance. “We have received numerous accolades from Bob Kraft,” he says. “He has mentioned the quality of our work to other stadium owners in the NFL; the word is out that we’re very proficient at erecting stadiums. We’ve gotten future business out of that project.”

Ryan Iron, a Massachusetts metal fabricating company, fabricated all of the railings within the stadium. And a professional football stadium has a lot of railings. “There are three large concourses at the stadium,” says project manager Mike Springs, “and railings are there. There are four large stairways, and the railings are there. You’ve got guardrails at the edge of the seats. Inside the suites, there are guardrails. They’re everywhere. We had to fabricate and install about nine miles of steel and aluminum.”

All that steel had to be cut into the appropriate size for the railing and pickets. Springs says, “We saw-cut approximately 20,000 half-inch square pickets for the railings. We stacked them into piles of 100, and ran them through the saw.”

Ryan Iron used Lenox blades on both its Hyd-Mech horizontal saws and Marvel vertical band saws to get a superior cut. They did most of the cutting in their shop; they brought portable band saws to the site to do additional cutting if individual pieces didn’t fit properly.

One of the biggest challenges, Springs says, was the construction schedule itself. “The time schedule was extremely tight,” he says. “We started last July and we had to install everything by April. We had approximately 40 people on the project working 55 hours a week for six months. We added crews to get the job done on time.”

Those Ryan employees had to do a lot of hustling to finish their part of the construction process on schedule, but now that Gillette Stadium is finished, they can look at the stadium and smile. “Everybody involved gets a big sense of satisfaction,” Springs says.

In addition to giving the Patriots a great new stadium, owner Robert Kraft wanted fans to be able to get in and out of the stadium parking lot more easily. (Coming and going from games at Foxboro, fans used to sit in traffic for hours due to back-ups on Route 1.)

The state of Massachusetts came up with $70 million to improve the roads around Foxboro, and Kraft hired Rizzo Associates, a traffic and engineering consultant, to develop a traffic management plan to alleviate congestion on Route 1. Among the improvements are four new overpasses so Route 1 traffic doesn’t have to stop for pedestrians. Now game-day traffic flows faster and the fans are happier — especially when the Patriots win.

A Super Stadium

With any construction project — and especially a big one like a football stadium — there are going to be last-minute problems and eleventh-hour modifications. But there was one late-breaking adjustment that nobody minded making: during the construction process, builders had to expand the display case at Gillette Stadium to make room for the Super Bowl® trophy the Patriots won last February.

Now it’s football season again, and the Patriots are gearing up for another run at the trophy. But this year, the Patriots are playing in one of the newest, nicest venues in the country. The stadium opened in May with a Major League Soccer game between the New England Revolution and the Dallas Burn.

But that event was billed as a “soft opening” — sort of a dry run with the stadium’s soccer crowd of 22,000 before 68,000 fans pack it for Patriots games.

The Rolling Stones opened their world tour at the new facility on September 5. (For concerts, seats in Gillette Stadium’s south end zone retract and the stage is set on concrete risers to protect the grass.)

The big debut for the stadium was the Patriots’ preseason opener August 17 against the Philadelphia Eagles and their regular season home opener against Pittsburgh, a Monday night rematch of last year’s AFC title game.

James says, “There’s never been as much anticipation in this area for the start of the new season.” He says the Patriots have risen to the top of the NFL — not with get-rich-quick schemes — but by slowly, surely building a solid football organization.

“There’s a very good organizational structure with the Patriots, from management to football personnel and coaches. Together they have constructed a very good team. And, like any good construction team, you know that it is done by building a strong foundation and adding to it. And I think the Patriots, like the construction team at Gillette Stadium, take a lot of pride in their work and in their collective accomplishments.”

Hopes are high in New England for the Patriots to make another Super Bowl run, but whether the team wins or loses this season, fans will have a real “home field advantage” at Gillette Stadium.

[AlanHansen]

Look, none of us will know anything until the deal is done and dusted, it's the way these things work.

We could do with investment in terms of getting in new players and building the new stadium, as long as it isn't called "The Bic Razor statium"