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Today in Patriots History
The New England Patriots
The New England Patriots
March 22, 1971:
After briefly being called the Bay State Patriots, the team is renamed the New England Patriots
While Billy Sullivan surely meant for the name "Bay State Patriots" to be a jab at the city when Boston would not build a stadium for the Patriots, the move backfired. The guy that had a background in public relations and marketing overlooked that the new name would be shortened in headlines to the B.S. Patriots.
Thankfully the name of the team name was soon changed to the New England Patriots.
5 Things You Didn't Know About The New England Patriots
For one, George R.R. Martin wrote the New England Patriots into Game of Thrones.
www.huffingtonpost.com
The Boston Patriots were the eighth team added to the AFL, keeping the original name until 1971. But owner Billy Sullivan became upset that Boston wasn't allowing him to build a stadium in the downtown area, so he snubbed the city and moved to Foxboro. With the location change came a name change and the Patriots adopted the "Bay State Patriots" moniker. This didn't go over well.
An AP story from 1971 entitled "Bay State or Boston? Even Patriots Unsure" explains:
The club's board of directors voted a change from Boston to Bay State last week, recognizing the fact the team is scheduled to play home games this year in a 62,000-seat stadium under construction in Foxboro, about 20 miles south of Boston. The "Bay State" tag hasn't proved too popular, and some Boston sports writers refuse to call the team by anything but "Patriots."
The Rise and Fall of the “Bay State” Patriots
When one invokes the team name, “Patriots”, it’s easy to play the association game; Brady to Welker, Victor Kiam’s razors, and even a quiet Randy Moss. They’ve been the Boston Patriots and the New England Patriots but did you know that there was a THIRD team name? While you wrack your brains,
news.sportslogos.net
Did you know, though that the Patriots were nearly named the Bay State Patriots?
Thaaaaat’s right folks, “MAKE SOME NOISE FOR YOUR B.S. PATRIOTS!!!”
It’s true, it’s true. In 1971, Billy Sullivan, ticked at the city of Boston because they wouldn’t let him build downtown, moved the Pats out to Foxborough’s Schaefer Stadium (later to be renamed Foxboro Stadium) which actually came in under budget and on time – the only thing, to date, that had gone right for the team. Incidentally, as this clipping shows, they couldn’t even get it right in the front office, mailing the Bay State press release in a BOSTON PATRIOTS envelope!
“Everybody was making jokes about us,” said former GM Upton Bell. “Trouble was, there was a board of directors and you had to convince ‘the mob.’ There were 32 of them.”
Finally, remembers son Pat Sullivan, “someone said Dad did it because our home was on Bay State Road in Wellesley. That did it. Dad said he wouldn’t put up with that.”
Thankfully, he was convinced back to sanity by the NFL, and, on March 22, 1971, the New England Patriots (see? simple works) were born.
Incidentally, “The Bay State Patriot” is now the name of the newsletter from the Massachussets Department of Veterans’ Services. It’s nice to find nearly-irrelevant little tidbits while doing research.
Top 10 Things You Didn't Know About the New England Patriots - TIME
When Billy Sullivan bought the rights to a Boston-based AFL football team in 1959, he was not the first to bring pigskin to Beantown. At least three football teams had already run through the city:...
content.time.com
When Billy Sullivan bought the rights to a Boston-based AFL football team in 1959, he was not the first to bring pigskin to Beantown. At least four football teams had already run through the city: the Bulldogs, Braves, Redskins and Yanks had all either moved or folded. But Sullivan, determined to create a longstanding sports institution in Boston, held a contest, open to the public, to choose the team's name. Out of thousands of entries, a panel of sportswriters selected "Patriots" as the winner, an entry submitted by 74 people in total. The name was meant to honor Boston's role in the nation's founding and the team's name stood as "Boston Patriots" until 1971, one year after the team was absorbed into the NFL.
Moving out of their Boston-based digs and into a brand-new home in Foxborough, Mass., the team was renamed the Bay State Patriots — for just over a month, at least. But the name was rejected by the NFL, and for good reason: it was quickly pointed out to the Patriots' management that the name would be abbreviated B.S. Patriots, a bit of bad branding that the team was not keen on. So, in reverence to Foxboro's location between Boston and Providence, the Patriots were renamed the New England Patriots, underscoring the team's importance to the region as a whole.
