Robert Kraft has possessed the New England Patriots of the NFL since 1994.
Robert Kraft, a longtime leader within the exclusive group of National Football League team owners, can look towards the future and anticipate labor peace and prosperity for the NFL for a long time. There’s always the ongoing controversy over Daniel Snyder and allegations the Washington Commanders owner has been collecting information to blackmail fellow players of the team that he denies and on which Kraft did not have a word. However, the league is moving forward. The collective bargaining agreement with players will last for another eight years, and the lucrative contracts with media companies to air games are in place until 2033. For Kraft’s team, The New England Patriots, do we need to talk about that their record-breaking eleven Super Bowl appearances have made them the most hated team anywhere, except in their own home in the United States, where they’re as loved as clam chowder with white clams?
Kraft has loved the Pats and the Pats for many years, too. He first began attending games as an annual season ticket holder with the family back in 1971Section 217 Row 23 seats one to six and later bought this team for $172 million, which was the highest selling price in the NFL. Forbes valued the Patriots this year at $6.4 billion, which was second in the league. Kraft himself was valued at $10.6 billion, which was the No. At 59 in Forbes400. Forbes400 list of Forbes400.
However, looking back at the 81st year and all Kraft has accomplished in his life, it does not have a similar significance as it did in the past. “My most important thing at this stage of my life,” Kraft told Forbes, “is my philanthropy.”
“I didn’t perceive that it was a condition that is primarily affecting people from the Black community. If it were a condition in the white population, then the research funds would have been devoted to research, and we’d be able to find a solution.”
The most recent amount is a $50m donation by his family foundation to Massachusetts General Hospital, or MGH, where his son Jonathan Kraft is the board chair. This is the most unusual gift in the hospital’s history of 200 years and will fund a healthcare system to combat systemic inequities that affect Black and Hispanic communities.
“People like me who are privileged to ensure that any inequities of any form, we must work hard to rectify these,” Kraft said in an extensive interview where Kraft insisted on being identified as “RKK” because that’s the name his friends refer to him as.
Kraft announced that part of the gift would be used to fund research into sickle-cell anemia, a blood condition affecting one out of 13 Black infants. Kraft acknowledged Patriots team members Matthew Slater, Devin McCourty, and Jason McCourty for tipping him to sickle cell as well as the inability of the campaign to raise funds to discover the cure. In 2019, the McCourty brothers contributed to raising $250,000 to fund research.
“I did not realize it was a problem that mostly affects people from the Black communities,” Kraft said. “If it were a condition in the white population and the research funding would’ve been allocated to research, we’d have a solution.”
Those who have longtime Patriots followers will know the inspiration behind Kraft’s newest passion: the late wife of his Myra Hiatt Kraft, who passed away from cancer of the ovary in 2011. She was a very active philanthropist. “She got into the trenches to do the job,” Kraft said.
Kraft said that the Krafts could access every resource to them, but Myra’s death and illness were not without anxiety and fear. This led him to think about families with low socio-economic background with the same daily burdens as those with serious diseases; however, they do not have the same resources.
“When she became sick and passed away,” Kraft said, “I began to think about what she would want and was able to respect the things that her life was about.”
The gift to MGH increases his overall contribution to the hospital to approximately $75 million as of 2010. MGH stated that Kraft would be a strong advocate for creating a permanent position named in honor of him, focusing on the inclusion of diversity, equity, and equity in healthcare. It is expected that the Massachusetts General Blood Donor Center will be named in honor of the Kraft family, and the funds will continue to help the Kraft Center for Community Health, which was named in 2011.
“Most of our current giving is to create bridges and to do things that connect people,” Kraft said.
There are immobile negotiations to be had with the NFL. There’s the Snyder unpopularity, and The Athletic reports that owners have to decide on the best way to pay the $790 million due to St. Louis. St. Louis related to Rams owner Stanley Kroenke’s move in 2016 to Los Angeles in 2016. The issue could be resolved by next week after team owners gather in New York at the end of next week.
While this is happening, Kraft has his eyes on his legacy. “I would like to show the way,” he said. “It could influence other people who have enjoyed the same privileges and advantages to do their best to end the inequities in place.”
