Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is helping the town of Foxboro and the Kraft Group to "advance a Gillette Stadium event licensing bill," according to Michael Norton of STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE. Town officials and the Kraft Group have been "working for three to four years on a plan to develop an annual event license to cover all of the major events that occur at the stadium." The application "would be submitted each January or February and list all events expected to occur at Gillette over the next 12 months." Foxboro Board of Selectman Chair Mark Elfman said that if an unlisted event came up during the year, the Board could "hold a special hearing on the event or accept it without a hearing and fold it into the existing licence." Baker filed legislation on Monday to "facilitate the town's plan by amending state licensing laws" to allow Foxboro's annual event license to "expire one year from the date that it is issued." Baker said that the legislation, if adopted, would "lead to a more flexible licensing system" in Foxboro (STATEHOUSENEWS.com, 1/2). In Massachusetts, Jim Hand notes the legislation would "change the timing of licenses to run from May 1 to April 30 so that the licensing came after the NFL and MLS schedules are made public" (Attleboro SUN CHRONICLE, 1/3).
