įounded in 1959 as the Boston Patriots, the team was a charter member of the American Football League (AFL) before joining the NFL in 1970 through the AFL–NFL merger. As of 2023, the Patriots are tied for the third most valuable sports team in the world and have sold out every home game since 1994. The franchise is owned by Robert Kraft, who purchased the team in 1994. The Patriots play home games at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is 22 miles (35 km) southwest of Boston.
The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area.
