"They're bullies, plain and simple." That's how Bert Delaney, a 58-year-old high school principal and former town selectman who grew up in Foxborough, sums up the Kraft family's relationship with the town that hosts their stadium. It's a view that carries weight — and it's one that's getting louder as the World Cup wraps up at Gillette.
The timing is pointed. Kraft Sports and Entertainment LLC and the New England Patriots sued Foxborough in Norfolk Superior Court last month, claiming town officials are improperly using the stadium's annual entertainment license renewal to impose nearly $1 million in charges not authorized under state law. This week, the town fired back, asking a judge to dismiss the case and arguing that the Krafts — not local taxpayers — are contractually on the hook for public safety costs tied to events at the venue.
$42 million paid, and still fighting
The Kraft camp isn't shy about the numbers. Between 2023 and 2025, Gillette Stadium and its affiliates paid approximately $42 million to the town. In 2025 alone, that figure exceeded $14.9 million — including more than $4 million for police, fire, and EMS services. Spokeswoman Anisha Chakrabarti describes the stadium as generating "millions of dollars for the town annually" and credits it with putting Foxborough "on the global stage."
That framing doesn't sit well with everyone. "When he snaps his fingers, he wants the town to jump," said Paul Morrison, a 68-year-old retired correction officer who has lived in Foxborough since 1998. Critics argue Kraft could do more — hire more local residents, contribute to infrastructure like road paving, stop reaching for litigation every time a dispute arises.
Delaney's question, once the tournament dust settles, is a practical one: what was the actual net gain for Foxborough after hosting seven World Cup matches? That accounting hasn't been done publicly yet. Until it is, the financial argument cuts both ways.
The neighbourhood that actually lives it
On North Street, about a mile from Gillette, the stadium is less an abstraction and more a fact of daily life. Cal Davis, 70, has been parking cars on his lawn since a Grateful Dead concert in 1989 — $100 a car, licensed, insured, first-aid trained, Narcan certified. On a Thursday afternoon ahead of the last local World Cup match, he had already pocketed $600 before noon.
His neighbour John Powers, 76, wasn't so lucky. He parks cars too, but without the right zoning licence. During one recent World Cup match, he was fined $100 per car for every vehicle over ten on his property — $400 total. "It's irritating," he said.
The World Cup itself has been a smoother operation than many locals expected. Trains worked. Fans planned ahead. Davis was impressed enough to float the idea of Foxborough hosting a Super Bowl. The neighbourhood has also seen its share of genuinely warm moments — a Haitian family inviting kilted Scots off the street to share rice and beans before their nations played, Norwegians and Iraqis forming a circle outside the stadium to juggle a ball together.
- Kraft Sports + Entertainment paid over $14.9 million to Foxborough in 2025 alone
- The lawsuit filed by the Patriots organisation claims nearly $1 million in charges are unlawfully imposed
- Foxborough this week asked a judge to dismiss the Kraft lawsuit entirely
- Cal Davis has operated a licensed parking lot on his lawn since 1989, charging $100 per car
Frank Celoza, a 70-year-old retired software developer who lives on North Street, offers something closer to a shrug: "He does some positive things for the town." Davis agrees, in his way. "He's done so much and people expect so much more."
That's the tension Foxborough has lived with for decades — a town that owes much of its identity to a stadium, and an owner who knows it.
