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BigKen
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I watched a program last night about the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the new inductees. Then the program turned a bit nasty. The question was brought up why is XXX in the Hall yet YYY is not? Then the conversation turned to a couple of people who should be in the Hall yet the Media will not give them the required number of votes. The first name to come up was Terrell Owens. 3rd in TDs, 3rd in yards, 3rd in this 2nd in that but the voters (media) will not vote for him because in the later stages of his career he wouldn't talk with them because they shit in his helmet and didn't think he should be upset. They consider it their "job" to make a big deal out of a player's diminishing skills due to age and injury. They feel that a player should just accept being belittled and be a good doobie.
Then very quickly the question was asked, how did Jerry Jones get in? What is his great contribution to the game of football? Owners are expected to do owner things like get good coaching staffs together and insuring that they work well together to make the team good. Make sure that everyone gets paid. Try to win games and build the local fan base. Outstanding owners throughout history have made the league great and done things to modernize the league. George Halas, John Mara, Rooney are examples of guys who put the league ahead of their individual benefit or their team's benefit.
Then the question was asked, why isn't Bob Kraft being considered for the Hall? He rejected a $75M buyout of his lease ownership from James Orthwein, so he could move the Patriots to St. Louis. Kraft bought Sullivan Stadium out of bankruptcy 1988 at huge cost of $22M to save the Patriots franchise from bankruptcy. When Orthwien and Victor Kiam were running the Patriots into the ground no one cared, except Kraft and in 1994 when the team was nearly done, Kraft moved in and paid the unbelievable price of $172M for a team his all of his financial advisors told him was worth $115M at the extreme. Kraft also blocked a move by Kiam to Jacksonville in 1990 because he held a lease agreement until 2001. If Kiam had moved, the NFL would have had to totally realign all of the teams because the AFC would have had only one major market team, the NY Jets. The NFC had NY, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago and Atlanta. The TV networks would have demanded a major reduction in their TV packages.
Enter Bob Kraft. He buys the Patriots. Now they have a solid financial owner. Then he builds a state of the art stadium in 1999 that opens in 2001. Not one cent of public money is spent and Kraft pays the unheard of price of $350M out of his pocket and buys all of the surrounding land to make sure he has adequate parking. Amazing that suddenly in 2001 when the patriots move from the concrete bowl into their new stadium, the team immediately becomes much better. The stadium becomes soldout and the waiting list for season tickets by 2017 is 35,000. But not only is Kraft making the Patriots better, he shares the marketing tools and systems he and his son are developing to generate more income than any team in the NFL. The first guy to follow......Jerry Jones. The Patriots are the first team to develop a computer online store where fans can buy team apparel. The NFL is given the system by Kraft and so are the other 31 teams at no cost. Now all teams can market themselves to fans anywhere.
Then comes 2010 and the NFLPA Walkout. Owners dig in their heels and the players dig in theirs. It appears that the 2010 season will not be played. Jeff Saturday, NFLPA Executive Board member says that the walkout was just getting worse and worse after 135 days. Bob and Johnathan Kraft decided to have a meeting with the NFLPA negotiating team and executive board to see what they really wanted. What was expected to an hour or two, turned into an all nighter. The biggest deal was a completely new rookie salary system that Kraft got the union to agree with and got them to accept a 10 year CBA. Kraft gave the potential new agreement to Roger Goodell and Goodell presented it to the owners. Kraft went home to start the process of buying his wife of 42 years, Myra. During all of this, he was trying to spend as much time as possible with his dying wife, while trying to insure an NFL season. Then the problems start because a bunch of owners decided that the deal was to good for the players and they wouldn't buy in.
Kraft tried calling the owners but speaking with each one independently was futile. Kraft had Goodell call a mandatory owners meeting. The doors were closed and only the owners were allowed inside the room. No assistants, no wives, no kids, no media. All that anyone has ever said is that there was one speaker, Robert Kraft. In just under four hours, whatever Kraft said had made complete sense to 31 other owners and they accepted the new CBA unanimously. Three days later the NFLPA accepted it. Dominique Foxworth, NFLPA Vice President said, "Without Kraft, someone would have needed to step up and I don't know who that would have been. I don't know what he did or said or how he explained it to them, but he did it so it made sense." Following that Kraft was fined $1M for "Spygate" and the Patriots lost their 1st round draft pick. Kraft had nothing to do with it, but quietly paid the fine and accepted responsibility for Bill Belichick's refusal to accept a directive. In 2008 to nearly no one's knowledge, Robert and Johnathan stepped forward again and helped negotiate the richest TV packages of any sport in history.
Considering what Kraft has done for the NFL, it should be a slam dunk that he be placed in the Pro Football Hall of Fame....................................then again, it's the media that elects and unless those media people work in New England, they hate the Patriots.
Then very quickly the question was asked, how did Jerry Jones get in? What is his great contribution to the game of football? Owners are expected to do owner things like get good coaching staffs together and insuring that they work well together to make the team good. Make sure that everyone gets paid. Try to win games and build the local fan base. Outstanding owners throughout history have made the league great and done things to modernize the league. George Halas, John Mara, Rooney are examples of guys who put the league ahead of their individual benefit or their team's benefit.
Then the question was asked, why isn't Bob Kraft being considered for the Hall? He rejected a $75M buyout of his lease ownership from James Orthwein, so he could move the Patriots to St. Louis. Kraft bought Sullivan Stadium out of bankruptcy 1988 at huge cost of $22M to save the Patriots franchise from bankruptcy. When Orthwien and Victor Kiam were running the Patriots into the ground no one cared, except Kraft and in 1994 when the team was nearly done, Kraft moved in and paid the unbelievable price of $172M for a team his all of his financial advisors told him was worth $115M at the extreme. Kraft also blocked a move by Kiam to Jacksonville in 1990 because he held a lease agreement until 2001. If Kiam had moved, the NFL would have had to totally realign all of the teams because the AFC would have had only one major market team, the NY Jets. The NFC had NY, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago and Atlanta. The TV networks would have demanded a major reduction in their TV packages.
Enter Bob Kraft. He buys the Patriots. Now they have a solid financial owner. Then he builds a state of the art stadium in 1999 that opens in 2001. Not one cent of public money is spent and Kraft pays the unheard of price of $350M out of his pocket and buys all of the surrounding land to make sure he has adequate parking. Amazing that suddenly in 2001 when the patriots move from the concrete bowl into their new stadium, the team immediately becomes much better. The stadium becomes soldout and the waiting list for season tickets by 2017 is 35,000. But not only is Kraft making the Patriots better, he shares the marketing tools and systems he and his son are developing to generate more income than any team in the NFL. The first guy to follow......Jerry Jones. The Patriots are the first team to develop a computer online store where fans can buy team apparel. The NFL is given the system by Kraft and so are the other 31 teams at no cost. Now all teams can market themselves to fans anywhere.
Then comes 2010 and the NFLPA Walkout. Owners dig in their heels and the players dig in theirs. It appears that the 2010 season will not be played. Jeff Saturday, NFLPA Executive Board member says that the walkout was just getting worse and worse after 135 days. Bob and Johnathan Kraft decided to have a meeting with the NFLPA negotiating team and executive board to see what they really wanted. What was expected to an hour or two, turned into an all nighter. The biggest deal was a completely new rookie salary system that Kraft got the union to agree with and got them to accept a 10 year CBA. Kraft gave the potential new agreement to Roger Goodell and Goodell presented it to the owners. Kraft went home to start the process of buying his wife of 42 years, Myra. During all of this, he was trying to spend as much time as possible with his dying wife, while trying to insure an NFL season. Then the problems start because a bunch of owners decided that the deal was to good for the players and they wouldn't buy in.
Kraft tried calling the owners but speaking with each one independently was futile. Kraft had Goodell call a mandatory owners meeting. The doors were closed and only the owners were allowed inside the room. No assistants, no wives, no kids, no media. All that anyone has ever said is that there was one speaker, Robert Kraft. In just under four hours, whatever Kraft said had made complete sense to 31 other owners and they accepted the new CBA unanimously. Three days later the NFLPA accepted it. Dominique Foxworth, NFLPA Vice President said, "Without Kraft, someone would have needed to step up and I don't know who that would have been. I don't know what he did or said or how he explained it to them, but he did it so it made sense." Following that Kraft was fined $1M for "Spygate" and the Patriots lost their 1st round draft pick. Kraft had nothing to do with it, but quietly paid the fine and accepted responsibility for Bill Belichick's refusal to accept a directive. In 2008 to nearly no one's knowledge, Robert and Johnathan stepped forward again and helped negotiate the richest TV packages of any sport in history.
Considering what Kraft has done for the NFL, it should be a slam dunk that he be placed in the Pro Football Hall of Fame....................................then again, it's the media that elects and unless those media people work in New England, they hate the Patriots.
