Gillette Stadium

From 1971 through 2001, the Patriots played all of their home games at Foxboro Stadium. The stadium was privately funded on an extremely small budget and featured few amenities. Its aluminum benches would freeze over during cold-weather games and it had an unorganized dirt parking lot.[18]

Foxboro Stadium did not bring in the profits needed to keep an NFL team in New England; at just over 60,000 seats, it was one of the NFL's smallest stadiums.[19][20]

In 1984, team executive Chuck Sullivan funded the Victory Tour of The Jacksons, in an attempt to earn more profit for the team. Tickets sales failed, however, and the team's debt increased even further – to a final total of US$126 million.[21] After two unsuccessful owners bought the team and stadium, it was clear that a new stadium had to be built for the team to stay in New England. This is when other cities in the New England area, including Boston (which was previously home to the Patriots), Hartford, and Providence became interested in building new stadiums to lure the Patriots away from Foxborough.[22]

The first major stadium proposal from another city came in September 1993. Lowell Weicker, the Governor of Connecticut, proposed to the Connecticut General Assembly that a new stadium should be built in Hartford to attract the Patriots to move there, stating that a stadium had "potentially great benefit" if it were built. The bill passed in the State Assembly on September 27, 1993.[23]

In Massachusetts, there was a proposal to build a "Megaplex" in Boston, which would be the site of the stadium, as well as a new Fenway Park (the home park of the Boston Red Sox) and a convention center. The proposed sites for this hybrid convention center-stadium were along Summer Street in South Boston or at the so-called Crosstown site along Melnea Cass Boulevard in Roxbury, adjacent to Boston's South End. The administration of Massachusetts Governor William Weld pushed for construction of a full "Megaplex" at the crosstown site, with then-new Boston Mayor Thomas Menino favoring construction of a new, stand-alone convention center in South Boston. Ultimately, the residents of neither of these neighborhoods wanted a stadium, and as a result, Menino backed out, fearing that it would affect his chance at re-election.[24] The Fenway Park plan was cancelled after many "Save Fenway Park!" groups popped up to save the historic ballpark.

Kraft then began a plan to build a new stadium in South Boston. In that plan, Kraft was to pay for the stadium himself, hoping to win the support of Weld and Menino. He began to sketch designs, but the project was leaked to the press in December 1996. The residents of South Boston objected to a stadium being built in that location, causing Menino and Weld to become angry at Kraft. Kraft abandoned all plans for a Boston Stadium after the affair.[25] In January 1997, Kraft began talks with Providence mayor Vincent Cianci to relocate the team to Providence and build a new stadium there. The proposed 68,000-seat domed stadium would have cost $250 million, and would have been paid through income taxes, public bonds, surcharges on tickets, and private funds. Residents of the neighborhood of the proposed project were extremely opposed to the project because the surrounding area would have needed massive infrastructure improvements. The proposal fell through after a few weeks.[26]

During a news conference in September 1998, the team revealed plans to build a new stadium in Foxborough, keeping the team in Massachusetts. It was to be funded by the state as well as Kraft himself. This plan brought more competition from Connecticut, as a $1 billion plan to renovate an area of Hartford, including building a stadium.[27] Kraft then signed an agreement to move the team to Hartford on November 18, 1998. The proposed stadium included 68,000 seats, 60 luxury boxes, and had a projected cost of $375 million.[28] As before in Boston and Providence, construction of the stadium was challenged by the residents. Problems with the site were discovered, and an agreement could not be reached regarding the details of the stadium. The entire plan eventually fell through, enraging then Connecticut governor John G. Rowland, who lobbied hard for the stadium and spent weeks deliberating with Robert Kraft.[29] Rowland announced at a press conference that he was officially "a New York Jets fan, now and probably forever".[30] In 1999, the team officially announced that it would remain in Foxborough, which led to Gillette Stadium's construction.[31] After the Hartford proposal fell through, Robert Kraft paid for 100% of the construction costs, a rare instance of an NFL owner privately financing the construction of a stadium.

On April 18, 2000, the team revealed plans for the new stadium in Foxborough.[32] It was announced as a 68,000-seat stadium at a cost of $325 million, with the entire cost privately funded. Boston is thus the only city in professional sports in which all facilities are privately owned and operated. The Patriots own Gillette Stadium, the Red Sox own Fenway Park, and TD Garden is owned by Delaware North (the owner of the Bruins) (the Celtics rent the TD Garden from Delaware North).

Concurrently announced was a new road to access the stadium from U.S. Route 1, and an additional 3,000 parking spaces to accommodate the increased number of fans.[32]

The stadium was designed by HOK Sport (now Populous). Kraft wanted it modeled on M&T Bank Stadium which had opened in Baltimore in 1998. Kraft insisted on it having a "front door" with a Disneyland-like entrance. Populous went through 200 designs before coming up with one that Kraft liked.[33] The entrance includes a lighthouse (which was originally designed to shoot a light 2 miles (3.2 km) high and a bridge modeled on Boston's Longfellow Bridge.[34] The lighthouse and bridge are now featured on the stadium's logo.

For the first eight years of its existence the stadium used a video display, with a smaller LED scoreboard just beneath it, at each end of the field. The south side also had a large LED scoreboard in addition to the smaller one. In 2010, the stadium installed two new HD Daktronics video displays to replace the entire previous setup at both ends. At the time of their construction, the larger screen, at 41.5 feet tall and 164 feet wide (12.6 m x 50.0 m), was the second-largest video monitor in any NFL stadium; only AT&T Stadium had a larger one.[35]

Gillette Stadium ranks first among all NFL venues in stadium food safety with a 0% critical violations.[36] The Gillette Stadium food service, instead of being outsourced like most NFL teams, is run in-house and is led by the Patriots executive director of foods and beverage David Wheeler.[37]

Gillette Stadium mezzanine area

The venue has hosted the NFL's nationally–televised primetime season–opening games in 2004, 2005, 2015, and 2017 (when the Patriots unveiled their championship banners from Super Bowls XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLIX, LI, and LIII. The stadium also played host to the 2003 AFC Championship Game, in which the Patriots defeated the Indianapolis Colts 24–14. Eight days earlier the Patriots hosted the coldest game (4 °F (2 °C), −12 °F (−7 °C) wind chill) in New England Patriots history in the AFC Divisional Playoff game when the Patriots defeated the Tennessee Titans, 17–14.[38]

On January 10, 2010, the Baltimore Ravens beat the Patriots 33–14 here giving the Patriots their first home loss in the playoffs in Gillette Stadium. The Patriots suffered their second home playoff loss on January 16, 2011 in a 28–21 New York Jets victory. During the 2011-12 NFL playoffs, the Patriots defeated the Denver Broncos, 45–10, and again hosted the AFC Championship, where they won against the Baltimore Ravens, 23–20. However, the New York Giants ruined the Patriots' season by beating them in the Super Bowl for the second time. The following year, they again hosted the AFC Championship game, where they lost 28–13 to the Baltimore Ravens. During the 2014-15 NFL playoffs, the Patriots avenged their previous defeat by the Baltimore Ravens by edging the Ravens 35–31. They then defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 45–7 in the AFC Championship. The stadium hosted its sixth AFC Championship game during the 2016 playoffs, as the Patriots defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 36–17. In all, the Patriots are 16–3 at Gillette Stadium in the playoffs. The seventh AFC Championship hosted at Gillette Stadium came the next year, when the Patriots knocked off the Jacksonville Jaguars by a score of 24–20. In the 2018 season, Gillette Stadium hosted a Divisional Round game, as the Patriots knocked off the Los Angeles Chargers by a score of 41–28. But, were upset by the Tennessee Titans in the First Round of the 2020 playoffs with a loss of 20–13.

As part of the UMass football program's move to Division I FBS, the Minutemen played all of their home games at Gillette Stadium for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. The stadium is 95 miles away from the UMass campus in Amherst—the longest trip of any FBS member. The Minutemen's on-campus stadium, Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium, was not suitable for FBS football in its previous configuration. Its small size (17,000 seats) would have made it prohibitively difficult to meet FBS average attendance requirements, and its press box and replay facilities were well below Mid-American Conference standards. Additionally, several nonconference teams would not even consider playing games in Amherst. McGuirk Stadium was renovated to FBS standards for the 2014 season, but the Minutemen's current deal with the Kraft Group calls for the Minutemen to play four of their home games in Foxborough from 2014 to 2016 in exchange for keeping part of the revenue from ticket sales.[39][40] Moving forward, Gillette will continue to host UMass football with those games of anticipated larger attendance.

Gillette Stadium also hosted the eighth edition of the NHL Winter Classic, between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens, on January 1, 2016.[41]

Memorable Major League Soccer playoff victories include wins over the Chicago Fire in the 2005 and 2007 Eastern Conference Final, sending the Revs to the MLS Cup. Additionally, the venue hosted MLS Cup 2002, four games of the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, and some Copa America Centenario matches in 2016.

The crowd of 61,316 drawn to the 2002 MLS Cup Final was the largest stand-alone MLS post-season crowd on record until the 2018 MLS Cup in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.[42]

Gillette Stadium hosted the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championships in 2008, 2009, 2012, 2017, and 2018 and was the home of the Boston Cannons for the 2015 season.

[43]

On February 15, 2019, the Premier Lacrosse League announced that Boston would be the first city on the schedule for the 2019 season.[44] It was also announced that Gillette Stadium would be the venue to host the league on June 1 and 2. The PLL was planning on returning to Gillette for the 2020 season, but the COVID-19 pandemic put the season on pause and the league scrapped their 2020 schedule.

On June 2, 2019, Gillette will host a handful of games for the Women's Professional Lacrosse League to start their 2019 season.[45]

The AMA Supercross Championship has been racing at Gillette Stadium since 2016.

Monster Jam has been coming to the stadium since 2014.

When the field is configured for American football, the Patriots have their "Flying Elvis" logo painted on the field at dead center of the 50-yard line. Off to both sides along the 50-yard line, the Gillette Stadium logo is also painted on the field. This is a gray-and-yellow stylized representation of the bridge and tower at the north entrance of the stadium.