Foxboro Stadium was an outdoor stadium, located in
Foxborough-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 16,246 people, 6,141 households, and 4,396 families residing in the town. The population density was 809.1 people per square mile . There were 6,299 housing units at an average density of 313.7 per square mile...
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. Although the official spelling of the town's name is "Foxborough", the shorter spelling was used for the stadium.
History
The stadium opened in August
1971The 1971 NFL season was the 52nd regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl VI when the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Miami Dolphins...
as
SchaeferSchaefer Beer is a brand of American beer. Schaefer Beer was first produced in 1842 by the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company. The name "Schaefer" is derived from the last name of founding brothers Frederick and Maximiliam Schaefer....
Stadium, primarily as the home venue for the renamed
New England PatriotsThe New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
of the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. The team was known as the Boston Patriots for its first eleven seasons 1960-
70The 1970 NFL season was the 51st regular season of the National Football League, and the first one after the AFL-NFL Merger.The merger forced a realignment between the combined league's clubs. Because there were 16 NFL teams and 10 AFL teams, three teams needed to transfer to balance the two new...
, and had played in various stadiums in the
BostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
area. For six seasons, 1963-68, the Patriots played in the venerable
Fenway ParkFenway Park is a baseball park near Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts. Located at 4 Yawkey Way, it has served as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club since it opened in 1912, and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. It is one of two "classic"...
, home of
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
's
Boston Red SoxThe Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
. Fenway was poorly suited as a football venue and also had inadequate
seating capacitySeating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
33,000 for baseball and only about 40,000 seats for football.
The Boston Patriots played the 1969 season at
Alumni StadiumAlumni Stadium is a football stadium located on the campus of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, approximately sixmiles west of downtown Boston. The stadium lies within the city limits of Boston, although its postal address is Chestnut Hill. It is the home of the Boston College Eagles...
at
Boston CollegeBoston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
in Chestnut Hill, and the
1970The 1970 NFL season was the 51st regular season of the National Football League, and the first one after the AFL-NFL Merger.The merger forced a realignment between the combined league's clubs. Because there were 16 NFL teams and 10 AFL teams, three teams needed to transfer to balance the two new...
season at
Harvard StadiumHarvard Stadium is a horseshoe-shaped football stadium in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Built in 1903, the stadium seats 30,323. The stadium seated up to 57,166 in the past, as permanent steel stands were installed in the north end of the stadium in 1929...
in Boston's Allston neighborhood.
The site was selected when the owners of
Bay State RacewayFoxboro Raceway, known for much of its existence as Bay State Raceway, was a harness racing track located in Foxborough, Massachusetts that operated from 1947 until 1997. It stood next to Foxboro Stadium and the site of Gillette Stadium....
donated the land, midway between Boston and
ProvidenceProvidence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
,
Rhode IslandThe state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
. Ground was broken in September 1970, and it was built in less than 11 months at an announced cost of $4,000,000, (later determined to be about $7.1 million, or $37.5 million in 2007 dollars) a bargain price, even at the time, for a major sports stadium. This was because the Patriots received no funding from the Commonwealth of
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
or the town of Foxborough. Because of this, and also the era in which it was designed and built, it had very few amenities — the type that became commonplace at football stadiums in the 1990s — such as individual seating, "club seats", luxury suites, and deluxe locker rooms for the teams.
During Kiam's ownership of the Patriots,
ESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
anchor
Chris Berman humorously referred to the facility as "Shaver Stadium", lampooning Kiam's ownership of Remington Razors.
Seating Capacity
- 61,114 (1971)
- 60,999 (1972)
- 61,279 (1973–1977)
- 61,297 (1978–1983)
- 60,890 (1984–1987)
- 60,794 (1988–1994)
- 60,292 (1995–2001)
Playing surface
Like the majority of outdoor sports venues built in
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
in the 1970s, Foxboro Stadium was designed for the use of an
artificial turfArtificial turf is a surface manufactured from synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commercial applications as well...
playing surface. The original field was
Poly-TurfPoly-Turf was a brand of artificial turf, manufactured by American Biltrite of Wellesley, Massachusetts. It was the first specifically designed for American football. It had a patented layered structure which included a "shock pad" between the artificial grass and the asphalt sub-surface...
, succeeded by
AstroTurfAstroTurf is a brand of artificial turf. Although the term is a registered trademark, it is sometimes used as a generic description of any kind of artificial turf. The original AstroTurf product was a short pile synthetic turf while the current products incorporate modern features such as...
.
Artificial turf fell out of favor in the 1990s, due to the supposed higher rate of injuries resulting from play on the artificial surface. A natural grass field was installed before the start of the
1991The New England Patriots finished the National Football League's 1991 season with a record of six wins and ten losses, and finished fourth in the AFC East division.-Staff:-Schedule:-Roster:...
season, as it was at many other facilities. At Foxboro Stadium the replacement grass field never seemed to drain properly, resulting in the playing surface often becoming a quagmire during wet playing conditions
Naming rights
The original name in 1971 was
Schaefer Stadium for the
brewerySchaefer Beer is a brand of American beer. Schaefer Beer was first produced in 1842 by the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company. The name "Schaefer" is derived from the last name of founding brothers Frederick and Maximiliam Schaefer....
of that name in an early example of the sale of
naming rightsIn the private sector, naming rights are a financial transaction whereby a corporation or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, typically for a defined period of time. For properties like a multi-purpose arena, performing arts venue or an athletic field, the term ranges from three...
. When this agreement expired in 1983,
Anheuser-BuschAnheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. , is an American brewing company. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and 18 in other countries. It was, until December 2009, also one of America's largest theme park operators; operating ten theme parks across the United States through the...
took over the rights, but instead of putting the name of one of its brands of beer on the stadium, agreed to name it
Sullivan Stadium in honor of the
SullivanWilliam Hallissey "Billy" Sullivan, Jr. was an American businessman who owned the Boston Patriots franchise from their inception in the American Football League until their sale, as the New England Patriots of the NFL, to Victor Kiam in 1988.-Early life:Sullivan was born in Lowell, Massachusetts...
family, majority owners of the Patriots. After the family sold their majority interest in the team to
Victor KiamVictor K. Kiam was an American entrepreneur and the owner of the New England Patriots football team from 1988-1991....
, the stadium was officially renamed "Foxboro Stadium."
Notable events
The venue hosted numerous significant soccer matches, including six games in the
1994 FIFA World CupThe 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from June 17 to July 17, 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988...
, five in the
1999 FIFA Women's World Cup-Teams:16 teams participated in the final tournament. The teams were:-Squads:For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup squads.-Match officials:...
, the 1996 and 1999
MLS CupThe MLS Cup is the championship match of Major League Soccer, the highest tier of professional soccer in the United States and Canada. As the final match of the MLS Cup playoffs, the winner is crowned the season champion in the same manner as other North American sports leagues...
s, the inaugural
Founders CupThe Women's United Soccer Association, often abbreviated to the WUSA, was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the United States...
.
The stadium also served as the venue at times for the home football games of
Boston CollegeThe Boston College Eagles football team is the collegiate football program of Boston College. The team is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, a Division I Bowl Subdivision league governed by the NCAA. Within the ACC, the Eagles are one of six teams in the Atlantic Division...
and hosted numerous other outdoor events, primarily concerts, along with music festivals, including The
Monsters of Rock FestivalThe Monsters of Rock Tour 1988 was a festival tour of the USA in 1988, headlined by hard rock band Van Halen as part of their promotion for their OU812 album with heavy metal band Metallica as well as other bands including Scorpions, Dokken, and Kingdom Come. It formed the first section of the...
Tour and The Vans Warped Tour, as well as the
WWFWorld Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
King of the RingKing of the Ring is a professional wrestling single-elimination tournament held by WWE. The tournament was held annually from 1985 to 2002, with the exception of 1990 and 1992, and from 1993 to 2002 the tournament was produced as a pay-per-view event....
tournament in 1985 and 1986.
MetallicaMetallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
and
Guns N' RosesGuns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
brought their co-headlining
Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium TourThe Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour was a famed joint, co-headlining concert tour by the American rock bands Guns N' Roses and Metallica during 1992...
to the venue on September 11, 1992, with
Faith No MoreFaith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed originally as Faith No Man in 1981 by bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist Wade Worthington, vocalist Michael Morris and drummer Mike Bordin. A year later when Worthington was replaced by keyboardist Roddy Bottum, and Mike...
as their opening act.
Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and The
Grateful DeadThe Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
recorded a portion of their collaborative live album, entitled
Dylan & the DeadDylan & the Dead is a collaborative live album by Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead, released in 1989 by Columbia Records. It consists of seven songs written and sung by Dylan, with the Dead providing accompaniment. The album was produced by Jerry Garcia and John Cutler.Dylan & the Dead was...
, here on July 4, 1987.
Pink FloydPink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
played a two night stand in May 1988 (one of the nights saw their inflatable pig being torn to shreds). Then played a three night sold out stand in May 1994 on their
The Division Bell TourThe Division Bell Tour was a concert tour by British rock band Pink Floyd in 1994 to support their album The Division Bell. In 1995 the band released the live album Pulse to commemorate the tour, which would turn out to be the final Pink Floyd tour, although members of the band have continued to...
which were recorded and readily available on bootleg (night number 2 was filmed by MTV for promotional purposes).
1994 FIFA World Cup matches
| Date |
Time (EDT The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
) |
Team #1 |
Res. |
Team #2 |
Round |
Spectators |
| 1994-06-21 |
12.30 |
|
4–0 |
|
Group D |
54,456 |
| 1994-06-23 |
19.30 |
|
0–0 |
|
Group C |
54,453 |
| 1994-06-25 |
16.00 |
|
2–1 |
|
Group D |
54,453 |
| 1994-06-30 |
19.30 |
|
0–2 |
|
Group D |
53,001 |
| 1994-07-05 |
13.00 |
|
1–2 (a.e.t. Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw. In most sports, this extra period is only played if the game is required to have a clear winner, as in single-elimination...
) |
|
Round of 16 |
54,367 |
| 1994-07-09 |
12.00 |
|
2–1 |
|
Quarterfinals |
53,400 |
Closing
By the late 1990s Foxboro Stadium had become functionally obsolete in the modern NFL. The facility was built cheaply as a "bare bones" stadium and had very few modern amenities. It also lacked luxury boxes, a major source of revenue for other teams in the league, and most patrons had to sit on backless aluminum benches as only a small fraction of the stadium had actual seats (painted blue, red, and white near the 50-yard line). With a capacity of just over 60,000, it was one of the smallest stadiums in the NFL.
After 31 NFL seasons, Foxboro Stadium was demolished in January 2002, after the conclusion of the
2001The 2001 NFL season was the 82nd regular season of the National Football League.Following a pattern set in 1999, the first week of the season was permanently moved to the weekend following Labor Day...
season (in which the Patriots won their first
Super BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
). The last game played in the stadium—"The Tuck rule game"—was played in a snow storm; a Patriots win against the
Oakland RaidersThe Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, which famously featured an overturned fumble call based on the
tuck ruleThe tuck rule is a rule in American football, currently used only by the National Football League .Introduced in 1999, it reads:NFL Rule 3, Section 22, Article 2, Note 2. When [an offensive] player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional forward movement of his arm starts a forward...
in the final minutes. The stadium's former site became the parking lots of its successor,
Gillette StadiumGillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Foxborough, Massachusetts, 21 miles southwest of downtown Boston and from downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It serves as the home stadium and administrative offices for the New England Patriots football team and the New England Revolution...
, before being developed into the open-air shopping center
Patriot PlacePatriot Place is an open-air shopping center located in Foxborough, Massachusetts built around Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots and New England Revolution. Phase 1 opened in fall 2007, which included the construction of a small strip mall containing Bass Pro Shops, Staples,...
.
External links