Get your tickets for New England Patriots football games. Goods seats are available so don’t miss your opportunity to see the Patriots play. The Patriots are always in the race to the championship and always fun to watch. Buy your tickets now to see the Patriots this season.
New England Patriots Franchise History
The New England Patriots were founded in 1959 when the AFL awarded their final franchise to William “Billy” Sullivan in Boston. Locals were encouraged to submit ideas for the name of the team and the most popular name submitted was the “Boston Patriots”. Sullivan made the final decision and chose the “Boston Patriots” as the official team name. The Patriots never really had a home stadium while playing in the AFL. They played at several different stadiums around the Boston area. The Patriots were placed in the AFC East when the NFL merged with the AFL in 1970. The team needed a new stadium after the merger but the city of Boston could not deliver so the Patriots move to Foxborough were the suburb of Boston provided the new stadium the team needed. After moving outside of Boston the Patriots changed their name from the Boston Patriots to the New England Patriots. This change not only reflected the move to Foxborough but also the fan base throughout the New England area. The Sullivan family owned the team until 1988 when it was purchased by Victor Kiam. Kiam then sold the team to James Orthwein in 1992 who had plans to move the team to St. Louis but sold out to Robert Kraft in 1994 before the move was made. Kraft still owns the Patriots today. Bill Parcells was hired in 1993 as head coach of the Patriots and he led the team to two playoff appearances and Super Bowl XXXI. They lost in the Super Bowl to the Green Bay Packers. Pete Carroll succeeded Parcells as head coach and he led the team to two playoff appearances as well. In 2000 Bill Belichick was hired as head coach and he remains the coach today. Belichick has led the Patriots to five Super Bowl wins as well as a perfect 16-0 regular season record in 2007.
The Patriots moved to a new stadium (Gillette Stadium) in 2002 after playing for thirty years in Foxboro Stadium. The team still calls Gillette Stadium home today. New England has been in the AFC since the merger of the NFL and AFL in 1970 and now make up one of four teams in the division. The other teams in the East division are the New York Jets, the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills.
