FOXBORO, Mass. — It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise the New England Patriots no longer represent the most popular ticket in town. Bill Belichick’s team, after all, is more likely to claim the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft than make the postseason.
But that wasn’t always the case. Tom Brady’s teams played in the AFC Championship Game 13 times during his two-decade run, winning six Super Bowls in that span. And there were plenty of other notable regular-season and playoff games in Foxboro with the Brady-Peyton Manning clashes chief among them.
Nevertheless, while speaking at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday, Patriots president Jonathan Kraft made a rather stunning admission regarding ticket demands for the 124th Army-Navy game.
“I can tell you that the ticket demand for this game is greater than any AFC Championship Game that we’ve hosted here, greater than Taylor Swift, greater than anything else we’ve ever seen,” Kraft said while attending Army-Navy media day. “So, this next week is just gonna be so exciting.”
Gov. Maura Healey said more than 50,000 tickets had been purchased by out-of-state fans as of Wednesday. With tens and thousands of visitors coming to Massachusetts, Gov. Healey expects Army-Navy will have positive financial ramifications.
“Certainly, the Army-Navy Game is a huge win for our state,” Healey said during the media day. “So we’re really, really excited about that. We also think it’s really exciting that it is happening here in New England.”
The fact the get-in price for Army-Navy is some four or five times what it is for the Patriots game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday is no surprise. The 2-9 Patriots stink. But Kraft’s sentiments reflect the two-decade dynasty and include the biggest entertainers in the world. And, well, that might come as a shock to New Englanders.
Fans clearly aren’t the only ones excited for the game, though. Players, coaches and staff members at each of the two academies are thrilled to have Gillette Stadium as the host site. It’s the first time Army-Navy will be played in New England.
