2023-07-02 11:30:00
Robert Kraft is one of the most powerful club bosses in the NFL. If only because of the almost two decades of success of his New England Patriots. But the 82-year-old is not a speaker.
It obviously took precise journalistic inquiries to get Kraft to respond to statements by Bill Belichick, which could definitely be understood as criticism of the Patriots owner.
Belichick criticizes Patriots spending: “Number 27 in the league”
Because at the end of the season press conference in January, after the team had missed the playoffs for the second time in three years, the most successful head coach of modern times complained that the Patriots were spending relatively little money. “If you average our spending in 2020, 2021 and 2022, we were number 27 in the league,” the Hoodie said.
And further: “Several years we spend low, one high, but over a three-year period we are one of the lowest-spend teams in the league.” So Belichick apparently tried to explain why the fat years are over so suddenly – since Tom Brady left.
Reporter confronts Kraft with Belichick’s money statements
The 71-year-old denied that it was a dig at the owner. But quite a few observers took it that way. Apparently Greg Bedard from the “Boston Sports Journal” too. The reporter took the opportunity at the Arizona club owners’ meeting to ask Kraft for a response, as he himself reported on NBC’s Early Edition show.
“So I asked Robert about Bill Belichick’s comments about whether they were one of the lowest-spending teams in the league,” Bedard summarized, “And a lot of fans took that as a little dig at the owners that the Krafts aren’t ready to invest in the team. I asked him about that and I want to be as accurate as possible.”
Billionaire Kraft promises: “Money will never be a problem”
Accordingly, Kraft said of Belichick: “He never came to me or did not get everything he asked for from a financial point of view. We never set any limits.” In addition, the Patriots boss emphasized: “Spending money will never be a problem, I promise, otherwise I’ll sell the team.” From Bedard’s point of view, these statements sounded “pretty clear”.
Kraft’s fortune is estimated to be in the low double-digit billions. He made his money in the paper and packaging industry. He bought the Patriots in 1994 for $172 million – a record for an NFL team at the time. He now also owns the New England Revolution football club.
Patriots at Cap Space in midfield
However, like all owners, there are limits to Kraft because of the salary cap. In this way, the NFL wants to guarantee fair and balanced competition. Nevertheless, the latter does not always succeed, of which the Patriots are the best example of this millennium.
Interesting: According to the “spotrac” portal, the Patriots have spent almost 203.6 million US dollars so far in 2023, which is only undercut by the Los Angeles Rams (195 million US dollars). In terms of remaining cap space, the franchise ranks 13th at $13.2 million (all values as of July 2).
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