New England's Football Mall

Football and shopping become one in New England, where the owner of the New England Patriots NFL team has built a $300 million mall and entertainment complex next to the stadium.

1 minute read

September 5, 2008, 1:00 PM PDT

By Nate Berg


"Team owner Robert Kraft has built a large new mall next to Gillette Stadium that costs as much as the stadium itself: more than $300 million. And other franchises are watching to see if it brings in some "super" profits."

"Other stadiums have some shops and accommodations next door, but nothing like this. Patriot Place will have a football museum, a four-star hotel and spa, and a medical clinic tied to Harvard University. Of course, it also will have dozens of restaurants and stores, including Bass Pro Shops and Circuit City, which have already opened."

"Unlike most owners of sports franchises, he footed the bill for Gillette Stadium without public money. That means he's paying back some big loans. It also means he can do what he wants with all the parking and plumbing he paid for."

"'I realized that if we were going to make this work financially, eventually we'd have to do other things around it,' Kraft said. 'I dreamt of being able to have a development down there, and that was always part of my long-range plan.'"

Friday, September 5, 2008 in NPR

"Planetizen federal action tracker" logo superimposed over black and white image of US Capitol dome.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

October 28, 2026 - Zachary Whalen

A car drives through a puddle, making a large splash. Rain pours down.

California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour

If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.

October 28, 2026 - Grist

Lake Powell with much of the water evaporated.

Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River

Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.

October 30, 2026 - Yale Environment 360

People board a bus in Seattle.

Seattle passes record-breaking transit services expansion

Proposition 1 will double the city’s transit tax to add 95,000 more bus trips and preserve 180,000 bus trips annually.

15 minutes ago - KOMO News

Elon Musk in front of a sign for Grok 3

Post election, Texas is no longer Musk’s 'AI oasis'

Elon Musk dolled out $446 million on the 2026 midterms, the most ever spent by a non-canidate.

1 hour ago - Politico

People vote in Chicago behind blue privacy screens

Chicago voters approve permanent festival grounds, penalty for vacant property owners

Currently, major summer and fall festivals take over public parks for weeks at a time, drawing criticism from nearby residents

November 5 - Block Club Chicago