Report Sample on Gillette Stadium: Home to Patriots & Revolution in Foxboro, MA

Introduction

Gillette Stadium is located in Foxboro, Massachusetts and it was opened in 2002 to replace the adjacent Foxboro Stadium. The stadium has a sitting capacity of 65,878 people which includes 5,876 club seats and 89 luxury suites. Currently, it is the home stadium for New England Revolution team of the Major League Soccer and New England Patriots of the National Football League where both of their administrative offices are found. Gillette Stadium was initially known as CMGI Field before Gillette bought its naming rights. Foxboro town approved all plans to construct the stadium in 1999 and construction began later on in 2000. Since the idea to build Gillette Stadium was first presented to the time it was completed, it faced various cost and ownership issues that make it unique and innovative compared to most of the other stadiums in the United States.

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Funding Procedure

The stadium was first known as Schaefer Stadium when it was built in 1971 after receiving financial support from Schaefer beer brewing company. The owner of New England Patriots, Robert Kraft, slowly acquired parts of the Patriots Empire since 1985 after he acquired the parking lots around the area that was to be the stadium some years later (Rhodes, 2019). The business move that led to a series of events that saw the construction of the stadium came after Patriots’ founder, William Sullivan, faced difficult times by defaulting on lease payments for the property as he attempted to promote the Jackson Family Victory Tour concert. In 1988, Kraft bought Sullivan Stadium which at the time only had a field, lights, a scoreboard and aluminium benches for clubs and a hardcore base for the fans (Rhodes, 2019).

Sullivan Stadium later changed to Foxboro Stadium, and it provided only basic amenities which made Kraft have greater visions for a new and more developed stadium (Rhodes, 2019). He considered building a stadium in South Boston or Providence, but the residents of both towns intensely opposed the suggestions, so he was forced to turn his attention back to Foxboro. Kraft faced a lot of opposition from the state’s legislature as it denied him cash to improve infrastructure. With Tom Finneran, the then house speaker, rejecting the move, the project was seen as a failure from the beginning.

When Kraft realized that there was no hope for help from the state, he started looking for a home for the New England Patriots in other places in New England. By early 1999, Kraft signed a deal with Connecticut State to move the team to a polluted steam plant in Hartford. He faced many obstacles in a bid to clean the contaminated land and move the plant despite having a lot of cash offered to him. The taxpayers in the state of Connecticut had to pay $374 million to build a new stadium, and they also had to guarantee the Patriots specific annual revenue (Munsey & Suppes, 2020). The movers and shakers in Massachusetts, as well as NFL big wigs, were alarmed at losing the Patriots to Connecticut and they placed their offer of $70 million to improve infrastructure on the Route 1 short strip (Munsey & Suppes, 2020). The movers and shakers finally managed to convince Finneran to support the development of a new stadium in Foxboro.

Foxboro State started providing loans for NFL and Kraft so that he could build the stadium using his money. The television markets in Boston and Providence invested more in the bid for a new stadium to a point where they became more lucrative than Hartford’s offer to New England Patriots. A bill to begin the project of building a new stadium was passed and construction was set to begin only if the residents of the town agreed to it. They accepted the bill, and this forced Kraft to revoke his deal with Connecticut before the deadline that was set for May 2, 1999 (Munsey & Suppes, 2020). The town meeting in Foxboro on December 6, 1999, laid the platform for what has grown to become one of the town’s numerous attractions and home to the New England Patriots team. The stadium opened in 2002 under a budget of $325 million, has 89 luxury boxes, can hold 65,878 fans and lies on a 1.9 million square feet land (Munsey & Suppes, 2020).

Gillette Stadium is the only privately-financed NFL Stadium with 100% of the costs being privately owned. Governor Paul Celluci signed the legislation plan that called for Robert Kraft to privately finance the $250 million stadium that was to be built next to Foxboro Stadium (Adams, 2002). The new financing plan stated that the National Football League had to finance half of the costs that Kraft was bound to incur. The state paid for $72 million to help in improving infrastructure in and around the stadium, which was 17% of the projected total cost of the construction (Adams, 2002). The plan showed that Kraft was to pay almost $1 million each year to be used as easement fees.

Approval of the Facility

Twenty-one years ago in December 1999, a town meeting was held, and the attendees unanimously approved six articles that were important for the beginning of the construction of a large stadium and famous commercial sprawl that Gillette Stadium has grown to become(Munsey & Suppes, 2020). The legislators in Massachusetts agreed to implement a proposal to support NFL and Robert Kraft in a bid to find a new home for New England Patriots through building a new stadium. The Senate and the house of the state endorsed the plan after a period of opposing previous attempts to keep the team (Munsey & Suppes, 2020).

Thomas Finneran, the house speaker that had blocked earlier proposals, at last, favoured the proposal as long as public hearings were part of the process. The public hearings were acquired during a meeting of various participants. The residents of Foxborough town were the primary attendees of the meeting and of the 2,297 residents that attended, only 121 of them opposed the bid to construct the stadium and a unique access road meant for luxury box owners off North Street (Munsey & Suppes, 2020). The meeting was set in a high school auditorium, cafeteria, gym, and a tent that was set up for the overflow crowd.

Amenities Provided

Gillette Stadium is a sports and entertainment venue and is among the top-rated concert venues in the world. The stadium hosts various main ticketed events annually such as international soccer matches, NCAA athletics, football state championships, motorsports and professional lacrosse (Munsey & Suppes, 2020). Occasionally, the stadium is the first venue of its kind that has hosted social and corporate functions that are not related to ticketed events. The stadium currently has a special events department that plays a significant role in the operations of the stadium, including hosting and managing countless functions each year.

Comparison to Other Similar Facilities

Gillette Stadium is different from most of the other similar facilities because it has a unique display of local cultures and flavours of the New England heritage. This stadium is different from other similar facilities because it represents a seascape scene where guests get to experience an incredible view of all actions from the top of the bridge (One Patriot Place, 2020).

Fan satisfaction is at the topmost level for this stadium as compared to other stadiums mainly due to its design that offers unobstructed views from the length of each of its concourses. They provide a great view of the field from anywhere in the turnstiles especially from the gathering areas set aside such as the Encore Boston Harbor Terrace located on the Upper Concourse, the Draft Kings Fantasy Sports Zone found on the Main Concourse, and the Bud Light Party Deck on the Main Concourse (One Patriot Place, 2020). They all offer communal spaces where fans gather to socialize before, during and after the games.

Unlike many other stadiums that offer the same facilities, Gillette Stadium offers creature comforts through Putnam Club, which allows its members access to 120,000 square feet of space for them to enjoy. The stadium also has Dell Technologies Suite Levels that are home to 89 luxury suites which are one of the largest in the NFL (One Patriot Place, 2020). They range from 800 to 2,700 square feet, and each of the suites has luxurious furnishings, restrooms, a dedicated suite attendant and private bars which most of the other stadiums lack.

The Uniqueness of the Stadium

Gillette Stadium is privately owned, which makes it among the few stadiums in the world that are owned by private entities instead of the government. It includes 80 luxury suites, accommodation for an international field for soccer and 6,000 club seats. Another reason why this stadium is unique is that it features a plaza located in the north entrance portal for the stadium (Skanska, 2020). The plaza is highlighted by a light tower of the stadium’s signature and an arched bridge which is an excellent representation of New England’s historic coastal lighthouses. The bridge and the lighthouse are currently featured in the Stadium’s logo. Gillette Stadium has no critical violations making it the first in food safety among all NFL venues (Skanska, 2020). This is mostly attributed by the in-house running of the foodservice of Gillette Stadium compared to most of the other NFL teams.

The stadium has dedicated more than 40,000 square feet to the training facilities of the Patriots. The A/V system features two HDTV videoboards/ scoreboards, and a state of the art sound system. The value of engineering for the foundation of the stadium is estimated to be worth around $2 million in piling from the stadium’s east side that is built on spread footings (Skanska, 2020). The structured plans of seats for the lower bowl in the west side have been innovated to a simple slab-on-grade which has over the years enabled its management to save millions in the costs of precast structures and excavation.

Hurdles That Foxboro City Overcame to Build Gillette Stadium

Although the public officials in Connecticut worked hard to ensure that Patriot’s new stadium became a reality, they faced a lot of hurdles before finally being able to build Gillette Stadium. They had successfully implemented a plan to move a steam plant from the site that the stadium was to be built, but they still found it hard signing a final agreement. All negotiations with Connecticut officials failed until pressure from the public forced all sides to abandon their hard positions (Wallis, 2002). Environmental concerns also emerged about the site and how the state would handle the issues of clean-up if pollutants were found. The clean-up issues were most likely to surpass the budget set for the state, and many feared that this was going to affect its economy negatively.

Conclusion

The timing was a significant factor too. The Patriots had hoped that they would be in a new stadium by 2001, but it was clear that it was impossible to open before 2002. If further problems arose, the stadium could open in 2003 or beyond. The delays were most likely to cost the team $100 million each year in revenue if it wanted to remain competitive (Wallis, 2002). It could also lose a lot of money in Foxboro State because fans would abandon the team. The NFL worked against the move to create a plan for a new stadium in Boston, and it was clear that Kraft required convincing arguments to make owners adopt his way of thinking. The risks of playing out the Connecticut deal and the obstacles in Massachusetts made Kraft abandon the move.