Kraft Sports & Entertainment and the Patriots have sued the town of Foxborough, Mass., accusing its officials of “improperly squeezing them” for nearly $1M in new licensing fees that are not authorized under state law, according to a front-page piece by Serres & Andersen of the BOSTON GLOBE.
The lawsuit “reanimates a bitter, long-running rift between the Kraft family company and the town.” The suit “accused the town of ‘repeatedly misusing its state-granted licensing authority unlawfully to extract funds from Plaintiffs,’ in exchange for the license Kraft needs to host sports and other events” at Gillette Stadium.
Kraft Sports spokesperson Anisha Chakrabarti said in a written statement that, earlier this year, the town of Foxborough “renewed the stadium’s annual event license on ‘significantly different terms.’” Since then, stadium management has “met with town leaders to understand the reasons for the modified terms and to work toward amending the conditions." Chakrabarti said that those negotiations remain ongoing.
On Tuesday, the town fired back in a statement posted to its website, saying that “as part of the most recent entertainment license it had ‘implemented provisions requiring Kraft Sports & Entertainment to reimburse the Town for vital public safety and other municipal services necessary to support events held at Gillette Stadium.’” Serres & Andersen wrote the timing of the lawsuit “is particularly jarring, coming during a rare moment of unity in the region after a seemingly smooth start” of the FIFA World Cup in Foxborough (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/16).
