Robert Kraft is pissed off with the town of Foxborough.
The New England Patriots owner and his Kraft Sports + Entertainment group sued the town on Monday, accusing local officials of turning a routine stadium licensing renewal process into an illegal revenue stream.
The dispute centers on Gillette Stadium’s annual entertainment license. The 65,000-seat venue needs this permit to host large events with ticket sales over 15,000. Kraft’s legal team argues that Massachusetts state law caps annual renewal fees for this license at $100. However, Foxborough sent the stadium a draft invoice for for $953,640 in April.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft calls Foxborough’s $1 million invoice an illegal tax
The 52-page complaint, filed in Norfolk County Superior Court, lays out the core allegation. Foxborough “repeatedly misused its state-granted licensing authority to unlawfully extract funds” from the organizations that run Gillette Stadium.
May 7, 2026; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft addresses the media at a press conference on the game field at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Natalie Reid-Imagn Images
The plaintiffs, Kraft Sports + Entertainment, New England Patriots LLC, Kraft Soccer LLC and NPS LLC, argue the town used the 2026 license renewal “as a pretext” to pile on nearly $1 million in new administrative fees, including reimbursement for 100% of a police lieutenant’s salary to oversee the department’s special operations division.
Kraft, 83, has owned the Patriots since 1994 and privately funded the construction of Gillette Stadium, which opened in 2002. Under his oversight, the team won six Super Bowls. Kraft rarely picks public fights with local government, making this lawsuit extremely rare.
Timing adds to the tension. Gillette Stadium is currently hosting seven FIFA World Cup matches. A similar dispute over World Cup public safety costs nearly derailed the event when the Foxborough Select Board threatened to withhold the stadium’s license unless Kraft paid $7.8 million upfront.
Kraft’s group paid to protect the matches, but the new lawsuit suggests that settlement only encouraged the town to repeat the same thing.
The stadium already pays Foxborough roughly $4 million annually instead of property taxes, plus another $4 million for event-day police and fire details. Kraft’s legal team argues the new $953,640 invoice is an illegal tax disguised as a license renewal condition.
Foxborough, however, pushed back Monday, stating the fees “reimburse the town for vital public safety and other municipal services necessary to support events held at Gillette Stadium.” Kraft’s lawyers want a court to void any fee beyond the state’s $100 limit.
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