End zone lounge

NovaScotiaPatsFan said:

Yeah, because I'm sure he has the same amount of money in his bank account that Kraft has. I guess it's just a lifetime of being poor talking but I never got the whole "I'm obscenely rich but I still want more money" thing. To me it's like continuing to run after you've crossed the finish line.

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Who decided how much money is enough?
Many multimillionaires lost everything. Others have left a legacy for generations.
If you were Bob Kraft are you saying you wouldn't care about continuing to make the money that is a result of your lifetime of hard work in order to leave more to the future generations of your family?
Do you not think he finds it important that his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and so on, can all benefit from the efforts of his life in building maintaining and expanding his standard of living and wealth?
Your comments actually support my position, in that its really silly for anyone to think they can judge was is right or best for someone else. I understand that people who wish they had someone elses money can't fathom what that person would need or do with more of it, but I'm sure Bob Kraft could give you some very good reasons why it is important to him to make the money he is rightfully earning and why it isn't useless to him.

I guess I'm one of those weird people who thinks that more money than you or your children or their children or their children could ever spend in their entire lives combined is enough. But I actually yunno care about other people too so that kinda quashes the whole greed thing.

When is the pool going in!?

NovaScotiaPatsFan said:

I guess I'm one of those weird people who thinks that more money than you or your children or their children or their children could ever spend in their entire lives combined is enough. But I actually yunno care about other people too so that kinda quashes the whole greed thing.

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First of all it's silly to think that Kraft had money than 4 generations could spend.
Secondly I don't understand how you thinking bob kraft had enough more makes you "care about people" more than he does or I do. Are you saying that people who want to earn a good standard of living for their families and make their lives better don't care about other people?
Just so I'm clear are you advocating that kraft slash ticket prices down to what he would break even at and by not doing so he is greedy and doesn't care about other people?

luuked said:

Would he suddenly start to only break even if the lounge would not be built ? It doesn't matter if he builds it or not he will still make a **** ton of money. The question is whether the increase they get from the lounge is worth alienating some of their fans.

Now while we are hyper successful it is a non-issue. The stadium will be always be full. However, once this improbable run ends we will see if the ever increasing ticket prices and ideas like the lounge will leave a bitter taste that will make it harder for him to fill the stadium.

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I think we can safely assume that Bob and Jonathan Kraft have done the math and that this is a money maker for them; the membership fee is only the tip of an iceberg that includes food, booze and private party rentals.

I doubt they're worried about alienating fans who aren't interested in these kinds of amenities, but he probably is looking ahead to the time "this improbable run ends" and he will need a few extra perks to draw folks with money to spend and who want to be part of the stadium experience but not spend three hours in the cold, rain or snow.

As a business person, this is a simple matter. He's segmented his client base, added up his waiting list and no doubt has found a gap in the services he offers folks who want a slightly more upscale game day experience especially when the weather is bad. He's not worried about filling the stadium. He wants his overall margin to be a little higher with a few more fans who will drop a couple hundred bucks on food and premium spirits.

PatsFanSince74 said:

I think we can safely assume that Bob and Jonathan Kraft have done the math and that this is a money maker for them; the membership fee is only the tip of an iceberg that includes food, booze and private party rentals.

I doubt they're worried about alienating fans who aren't interested in these kinds of amenities, but he probably is looking ahead to the time "this improbable run ends" and he will need a few extra perks to draw folks with money to spend and who want to be part of the stadium experience but not spend three hours in the cold, rain or snow.

As a business person, this is a simple matter. He's segmented his client base, added up his waiting list and no doubt has found a gap in the services he offers folks who want a slightly more upscale game day experience especially when the weather is bad. He's not worried about filling the stadium. He wants his overall margin to be a little higher with a few more fans who will drop a couple hundred bucks on food and premium spirits.

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Yup. Kraft prefers to attract corporate $$$ at the expense of a few ordinary fans. His philosophy is readily apparent at Gillette stadium in many ways. As fan, my favorite season was the last one on the aluminum benches with the real fans at Foxboro stadium. In general, NFL management increasingly is distancing itself from its players and fan base. They have become accountable only to the dollar, which is a prime reason Goodell remains the commissioner.

Mack Herron said:

Yup. Kraft prefers to attract corporate $$$ at the expense of a few ordinary fans. His philosophy is readily apparent at Gillette stadium in many ways. As fan, my favorite season was the last one on the aluminum benches with the real fans at Foxboro stadium. In general, NFL management increasingly is distancing itself from its players and fan base. They have become accountable only to the dollar, which is a prime reason Goodell remains the commissioner.

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It's not just "corporate dollars," but dollars from upscale buyers. But, these are "real" fans as well; they just want a different experience if they're going to go to a sports event in outdoor conditions in November, December and (hopefully) January. I really don't have a problem with that.

You just can't say that management is distancing itself from its fan base. There isn't a media enterprise on the planet that wouldn't argue that it has a successful business model when 30.9 million people (34% of all TV's turned on at the time) watch the Packers and Patriots play a regular season, non-prime time, afternoon game on a Sunday when a lot of people are still on the road from their Thanksgiving holiday.

The relationship with the players is more complex. The litigation over head trauma does put the League at odds with many current and former players, so in that sense you have a valid point; but they reached a CBA without serious disruption this time and I think they will do say again. In addition, the cap is rising every year and the League pays players in the vicinity of $5b per year; that's the kind of "distance" I wouldn't mind having in my life.

Again, the issue that many here object to is Kraft's incessant prattling on about how they're "doing this because the fans wanted it" BS. So untrue. So disingenuous.

Mack Herron said:

Yup. Kraft prefers to attract corporate $$$ at the expense of a few ordinary fans. His philosophy is readily apparent at Gillette stadium in many ways. As fan, my favorite season was the last one on the aluminum benches with the real fans at Foxboro stadium. In general, NFL management increasingly is distancing itself from its players and fan base. They have become accountable only to the dollar, which is a prime reason Goodell remains the commissioner.

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They have always been accountable to the dollar. There are just many different strategies to make more dollars, so that are positive for the group you want them to be for and others that are not. "Improving the experience for the average fan" is not an exercise is Utopia, its a way to target the average fans as the people you want to make happy because you feel thats the best route to making the most money. Most teams seem to feel a different route works better.
To think that an NFL team feels an obligation to its fans is silly. Sure they pander to them and make grandiose statements, but any one fan leaving is replaced by another on the waiting list. Thats business and its that way across industries, not just the NFL.

For those wishing they'd expand Gillette's seating, adding a new section to enclose the open ends and make the stadium louder, has this ever been seriously discussed someplace?

My hunch is that the expansion of Gillette within the next 10 years is incredibly unlikely, but I'd like to be proven wrong.

ForThoseAboutToRock said:

My hunch is that the expansion of Gillette within the next 10 years is incredibly unlikely, but I'd like to be proven wrong.

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He'd be crazy to significantly expand the stadium right before the team gets significantly worse, possibly for an extended stretch of time.

ForThoseAboutToRock said:

For those wishing they'd expand Gillette's seating, adding a new section to enclose the open ends and make the stadium louder, has this ever been seriously discussed someplace?

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The open end (north end zone) is where this moronic rich people's lounge should've been located.

ForThoseAboutToRock said:

For those wishing they'd expand Gillette's seating, adding a new section to enclose the open ends and make the stadium louder, has this ever been seriously discussed someplace?

My hunch is that the expansion of Gillette within the next 10 years is incredibly unlikely, but I'd like to be proven wrong.

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My sources with the team tell me there is serious consideration for this. Kraft is pushing extremely hard for a SB and it won't happen without extra seating. Trust me the source is high ranking.

bresna said:

What a minute here... this math doesn't add up.

Using your 800 "members" of the club - they would contribute $1.2 million annually to the bottom line ($1500 x 800).
1500 season ticket holders contribute ~$2.025 million annually to the bottom line ($135 x 1,500 x 10).

If they limit the membership to 800 people, this new club is going to cost the club $825,000 annually and that's not even assuming that some buyers will opt for the 3 year at $1260/year plan. Even if they limit the membership to 999 people (hundreds, right? ), they'll still only bring in ~$1.5 million - still $500K short of simply leaving the fans in their seats.

So what gives here? Why are they doing this??

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You are missing a bunch of revenue streams. Kraft has another franchise (the Revolution) as well as concerts and other events where this may add significant value over the seats that are being replaced. I would also imagine that the huge Optum logos on the top of the lounge make up a big chunk of that money.

There may also be demand for more lounge space for entertaining advertisers, corporate partners, and other internal marketing projects. I think it is pretty unlikely that the Krafts failed to do the math on this project.

It should be quiet enough in that area of the field now that they can hold a Catholic mass down there during football games. Kill two birds with one stone.

Kraft Catholic! Who knew?

The upside of this lounge is that Dobson will be able to get close to the EZ.

A compromise would be shutting that opening near the lighthouse to trap some noise. I don't like anything that would hurt the homefield advantage vis a vis crowd noise.

Tunescribe said:

The open end (north end zone) is where this moronic rich people's lounge should've been located.

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I always figured that the spacing in the north end zone had to remain open for some kind of stadium logistics issues. I don't know bunk about stadium logistics though, and I guess plenty of stadiums can host all the types of events that Gillette does without similar openings.

signbabybrady said:

My sources with the team tell me there is serious consideration for this. Kraft is pushing extremely hard for a SB and it won't happen without extra seating. Trust me the source is high ranking.

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That'd be pretty cool. When I look at CenturyLink, I tend to think something like Sec. 147-150 (triangular part at far end zone in picture below) would fit nicely in one of the end zones in Gillette. I'd be interested to know where in Gillette the new seats might go.

brownj12 said:

You are missing a bunch of revenue streams. Kraft has another franchise (the Revolution) as well as concerts and other events where this may add significant value over the seats that are being replaced. I would also imagine that the huge Optum logos on the top of the lounge make up a big chunk of that money.

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Typically, the seats where the Optum lounge will go are removed in order to fit the stage for a concert. Unless there's some backstage lounge component to the Optum place, that area will be totally obstructed from a view of the performers, and seemingly useless. Then again, the new construction there probably means that things could be done differently for future setups.

I got the brochure in the mail today. I'm slightly considering trying it for a few reasons. It would be nice to have a place to get out of bad weather. That does keep me from going to some games. It would also be nice to watch the end of games from there and escape much quicker than I can from 311. And also there is a woman Photoshopped into a rendering of the lounge who has a tremendously nice butt.

Patjew said:

I got the brochure in the mail today. I'm slightly considering trying it for a few reasons. It would be nice to have a place to get out of bad weather. That does keep me from going to some games. It would also be nice to watch the end of games from there and escape much quicker than I can from 311. And also there is a woman Photoshopped into a rendering of the lounge who has a tremendously nice butt.

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You lightweight! If I were you I would not have publicly admitted any of these things.