Question

college level please.

Use this link to access the discussion forum to discuss the following topic. Read the following article or view the following video to contribute to the discussion:

Robert Kraft on His Decisions with the New England Patriots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu7KYmi0zlg&index=13&list=PL1E06982C51D22DAE

Based upon the video, how has the decisions Robert Kraft made changes the New England Patriots franchise? Fully explain your opinion.

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Answer 1

Robert Kraft is a billionaire worth $4.3billion. He is the business owner of Randy-white group and Kraft group. He is also the board member of Apollo global management and Viacom. Kraft is a seasoned ticket buyer of one National football leagues’ teams, team New England Patriots. Kraft played a key role in converting a losing franchise into a successful team with 4 super bowl wins and 7 super bowl appearances.

Kraft had a wish to be a part of football league team owner, he initiated this buying control through lease of 300 acres of land around Foxboro stadium (Sullivan stadium) in 1985 by offering them 1 million dollars a year for lease and with a purchase option of 16 million dollars in anytime in the next 10 years . The land was required for stadium parking. The stadium owners were also owners of the team, patriots.

In 1988, the son of the owner of the Patriots lost huge money in Michael Jackson’s tour. The stadium went bankrupt with $50 million in debt. The son left the ownership of the team to Victor Khayyam temporarily with the ownership of stadium remaining with him.

Victor Khayyam later bid 17 millions on the stadium whereas Kraft bid 25 million and won the stadium. There was a operating covenant along with the purchase that the team patriots played in the stadium for the coming years up to 2001(stadium’s cost was 6 million during the time it was built and had 50 million$ in debt at the time of purchase). Kraft earned revenues through parking, signage, concessions etc. The stadium was in the hands of Kraft and the team was with victor Khayyam.

As Khayyam had some financial issues, he sold the team to Mr. Orthwein. In 1993 he wanted the team to move to St. Louis – to play in a publicly financed stadium there. Since there was the operating covenant that the team had to play in the stadium up to 2001, Kraft did not want/agree with this decision. So Orthwein offered 75 million to Kraft to let them move. But Kraft did not want to lose the team and he bought the team for 172 million- the highest price paid for any sports franchises at the time in the world.

The ownership transferred from long-term owners to an intermediate owner and then to Mr. Kraft. Mr. Kraft has been a long-term well-wisher of the team and he bought the team when it was least valued. Both instincts and long-term vision helped him buy it. He also put in a lot of effort to make it one of the most successful sports franchisee.Kraft's experience may also have helped him to acquire such instincts.

It just shows that we cannot and need not believe only in numbers. Several lost businesses have been renewed by good leaders as shown in history. We can also believe in history and future possibilities. Mere looking at losing numbers may not be the only way to predict and determine success. We need to have guts and instincts to succeed.