Friday marked the 25th anniversary of one of the most pivotal days in Patriots history. On Jan. 21, 1994, Robert Kraft formally transitioned from Patriots season-ticket holder to Patriots owner, though he was far from just another yahoo sitting on Foxboro Stadium’s classic metal bleachers by that point. (He’d already purchased the land on which the stadium sat, then the stadium itself, years prior.)
Paying a then-record $172 million for what was arguably the laughingstock of the NFL, Kraft has made anyone who questioned the investment look ridiculous. From their 1960 inception to 1993, the Patriots went 225-276-9, making just six postseason appearances and being “the weak link in the NFL chain of franchises … always problematic in terms of getting things done and smoothing out their operation and becoming financially viable,” in the words of former 49ers CEO Carmen Policy.