The NFL will open its war chest to help pay for three stadium projects, including a $125 million loan that will keep the New England Patriots in big-market Boston.
The loans, approved by owners during the league's spring meetings in Atlanta last week, provide the last piece of funding for the new stadium in Foxboro for owner Robert Kraft, who said he expects to have a new facility ready for the 2001 season.
"It's a short time frame, but we hope to break ground by the end of the summer," Kraft said.
For Kraft, the loan provision helped seal a deal with Massachusetts lawmakers, who for years have been unable to reach an agreement to replace Foxboro Stadium, where the Patriots have played since 1971. But after Connecticut offered to build Kraft a fully funded $374 million stadium in Hartford, Massachusetts quickly put together a deal that will give Kraft $70 million in infrastructure costs to help pay for a new 68,000-seat facility.
The NFL will finance half of the estimated $250 million stadium with a long-term loan to be paid back with luxury and club seating revenue.
The NFL's decision to approve the funding is part of a leaguewide effort to keep big-market teams from fleeing to smaller markets for sweetheart deals like Hartford's bid to lure Kraft from Massachusetts.
"We're trying to do what makes sense in big markets," said NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
The Patriots weren't the only team to benefit from the NFL's new stadium loan policy, which was adopted in March after Hartford made its bid for the Patriots. Owners also approved lending $50 million to Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen for the team's $350 million new stadium and lending the Philadelphia Eagles $40 million for their stadium project.
