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Speaker 1: This is my kitchen table and also my filing system.

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Speaker 1: Over much of the past three decades, I've been an investor.

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Speaker 1: The highest calling of mankind I've often thought was private equity.

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Speaker 1: And then I started interviewing. Well, I watch your interview

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Speaker 1: those I know how to do some interview I've learned

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Speaker 1: in doing my interviews how leaders make it to the top.

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Speaker 1: I asked him how much he wanted. He said two

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Speaker 1: point fifty. I said fine. I didn't negotiate with him.

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Speaker 1: I did no due diligence. I have something I'd like

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Speaker 1: to sell, and how they stay there. You don't feel

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Speaker 1: inadequate now because being only the second wealthiest man that

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Speaker 1: Rold is that right. Over the past quarter century, the

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Speaker 1: most successful sports owner in the world has been Robert Krafft.

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Speaker 1: He's taking his team, the New England Patriots, to six

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Speaker 1: Super Bowl championships with the help of Tom Brady, his

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Speaker 1: star quarterback. I had a chance to sit down with

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Speaker 1: Robert Kraft that is so Let Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts,

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Speaker 1: to talk about how he's been so successful with a

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Speaker 1: sports team owner, but also his new found and very

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Speaker 1: deeply felt interest in fighting anti Semitism. Bob in your

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Speaker 1: wildest dreams. When you bought this team in nineteen ninety four,

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Speaker 1: did you ever imagine you'd win six Super Bowls and

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Speaker 1: be the most famous owner in professional sports.

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Speaker 2: Well, I sat in the stands of the old Foxboro Stadium,

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Speaker 2: and then when they came here, I sat in the

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Speaker 2: stands here and dreamt about one day trying to buy

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Speaker 2: this team and own it and run it the way

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Speaker 2: I wanted. I said, if I could ever get this team,

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Speaker 2: I just dream of having home playoff games and going

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Speaker 2: to the Super Bowl and winning it.

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Speaker 1: Now, when you bought the team, I think you paid

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Speaker 1: roughly one hundred and seventy five million dollars, something like.

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Speaker 3: One hundred and seventy two one.

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Speaker 1: Hundred and seventy two million dollars. Okay, one hundred and

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Speaker 1: seventy two million dollars, which was a lot of money

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Speaker 1: in those days, the highest price ever paid for a

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Speaker 1: football team at the time.

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Speaker 2: Any sports franchise anywhere in the world.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so I'm sure your friends said, Bob, are you crazy?

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Speaker 3: My friends, my wife.

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Speaker 2: It's the one time in our marriage that she was

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Speaker 2: ready to really wring my neck.

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Speaker 1: But now the Commanders they were sold recently for a

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Speaker 1: purchase price of six billion dollars and they haven't won

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Speaker 1: six super Bowls. So if you put your team up

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Speaker 1: for sale, presumably it's worth eight billion, ten billion or more.

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Speaker 1: Would you ever consider selling or you're never going to sell.

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Speaker 2: Never in my lifetime will we sell this team. And

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Speaker 2: I hope my children keep it going as well. It

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Speaker 2: also builds community. It's a way to build bridges, you

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Speaker 2: bring people of all background together. I think back to

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Speaker 2: when we're privileged to win our first Super Bowl three

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Speaker 2: four months after nine to eleven in Boston, a city

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Speaker 2: of six hundred thousand people. A million and a half

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Speaker 2: people came out on the streets very cold day, you know, black, white, Asian, gay,

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Speaker 2: every background, all putting community and team first. And that's

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Speaker 2: a privilege and an honor. So I look at this

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Speaker 2: team as like a community asset and I'm never going

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Speaker 2: to sell it.

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Speaker 1: So let me ask you about the NFL general. The

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Speaker 1: NFL prices for or the value of the team's going up,

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Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier, and that's because TV contracts have

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Speaker 1: gone up. How much higher do you think TV contracts

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Speaker 1: can really go? Is there any limit to how much

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Speaker 1: you can get paid by the broadcasters.

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Speaker 2: Well, I've been privileged to be chair of the Media

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Speaker 2: Committee for the last couple of decades, and three years ago,

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Speaker 2: we three seasons ago we're able to do seven to

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Speaker 2: ten year contracts that exceeded one hundred and thirty billion

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Speaker 2: dollars and that was tremendous because it gave us great

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Speaker 2: stability in the league where we could do a ten

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Speaker 2: year labor deal. We basically share fifty to fifty with

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Speaker 2: the players the revenue, so you know, they have been

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Speaker 2: able to grow and succeed with us. It's you know,

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Speaker 2: we know linear TV is really challenged now and we've

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Speaker 2: been doing things that we brought in two tech partners

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Speaker 2: now who Amazon and Google or YouTube? And you know,

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Speaker 2: I think we are developing our own NFL Plus where

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Speaker 2: we go direct to consumer, and I think we'll have

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Speaker 2: some serious decision to make down the road when we

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Speaker 2: see what happens in the whole media environment.

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Speaker 1: Now, the NFL is the most popular, I guess spectator

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Speaker 1: sport in the United States. You could argue it gets

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Speaker 1: better TV ratings than virtually any other sport. But around

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Speaker 1: the world, the most popular sport seems to be for

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Speaker 1: this purpose. What it's called soccer in this country in

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Speaker 1: football outside, can you make American football as popular outside

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Speaker 1: of the United States as European football is around the

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Speaker 1: world or is that not realistic?

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Speaker 2: I don't think it's realistic, partly because to play the

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Speaker 2: sport of soccer, all you.

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Speaker 3: Need is a ball.

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Speaker 2: Really, you don't need equipment, you don't need anything but

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Speaker 2: a net and a ball.

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Speaker 3: Two thirds of the world's.

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Speaker 2: Population can actually play the game. Unfortunately, except for Europe,

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Speaker 2: we haven't really had the game play. Like we're going

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Speaker 2: to Germany this year and the stadium we're playing has

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Speaker 2: fifty five or sixty thousand seats and demand for tickets

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Speaker 2: was three million within the first twenty four hours. So

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Speaker 2: the demand is there and the appreciation of the game,

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Speaker 2: and I think we're going to work to have the

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Speaker 2: game appreciated more globally, and I think with gaming coming

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Speaker 2: on that people throughout the world our sport has a

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Speaker 2: forty second delay between plays that prop betting and other

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Speaker 2: kinds of gaming. As we educate more internationally, that's where

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Speaker 2: the marketplace really is open for us. But I don't think, unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: they'll be playing the game all over the world.

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Speaker 1: One of the issues in the NFL has had to

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Speaker 1: deal with. Is the concussion issue when you were playing football?

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Speaker 1: It wasn't probably as big a deal when I played

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Speaker 1: football when I was ten or twelve. You know, I

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Speaker 1: wasn't getting hit in the head that much by people

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Speaker 1: were weighing two or three hundred pounds. Today you have

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Speaker 1: a lot of players a weigh three hundred pounds. They

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Speaker 1: hit you, you can really get hurt. You've settled the litigation

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Speaker 1: I think on concussions, And do you think the concussion

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Speaker 1: issue has largely been addressed? And do you think better

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Speaker 1: helmets will help the problem in the future a bit.

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Speaker 2: I think the advancement that has come with the medical support.

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Speaker 2: In the end, I go back to where we were.

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Speaker 2: This is our thirtieth season. Pinch myself, but the medical

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Speaker 2: advancement and looking to keep the game as healthy as

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Speaker 2: possible with the helmets weave and have an independent doctor

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Speaker 2: who sits above, who can take any player out of

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Speaker 2: the game or have him be tested, because you know,

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Speaker 2: guys sometimes wouldn't want to go out because they don't

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Speaker 2: want to lose their job. I really believe the medical

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Speaker 2: and safety is better than it's ever been.

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Speaker 1: So let me ask you about one of the most

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Speaker 1: faithful decisions I guess your team ever made. Somebody decided

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Speaker 1: to draft a goy named Tom Brady who had played

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Speaker 1: football at University of Michigan. Initially I think it was

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Speaker 1: at Michigan. He wasn't the number one draft pick, and

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Speaker 1: you know, somebody must have seen something in him. Who

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Speaker 1: was the person who said, hey, let's take Tom Brady

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Speaker 1: a gamble on him.

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Speaker 2: Well, that gentleman was a man by the name of

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Speaker 2: Dick Raybind. In that draft, there were seven quarterbacks taken,

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Speaker 2: I think by the third or fourth round, and this man,

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Speaker 2: Dick Raybind. I remember in the draft room him saying

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Speaker 2: to Belichick, you know, tom Brady's still there. He's tremendous value.

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Speaker 2: But we had three quarterbacks and then the fourth round,

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Speaker 2: the fifth round came, the sixth round came, and the

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Speaker 2: last pick of the sixth round, which is known as

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Speaker 2: a compensatory pick, draft pick number one ninety nine.

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Speaker 3: We wound up taking Tom Brady.

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Speaker 1: So how did it feel when he decided to leave

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Speaker 1: the team? You obviously could have kept him, I guess,

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Speaker 1: but he decided to leave or and he decided to

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Speaker 1: go to the Tampa Bay team and they won the

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Speaker 1: Super Bowl his first year. So did you say I

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Speaker 1: should have kept him, or you say, look, I made

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Speaker 1: a long term decision, and I'm okay with it.

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Speaker 2: I always would talk to him, and he would take

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Speaker 2: less money to play for the Patriots, and you know,

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Speaker 2: we have a salary cap, so I always assured him

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Speaker 2: that whatever money I didn't pay him wasn't going into

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Speaker 2: my pocket. It was going to other players who would

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Speaker 2: be around him. And if we won those kind of trophies,

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Speaker 2: he would be the biggest beneficiary for the rest of

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Speaker 2: his life, which in fact has happened. And you know,

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Speaker 2: if the Patriots can't win a Super Bowl, I'm always rooting.

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Speaker 2: If we're out of it, I'm rooting for Tom Brady.

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Speaker 2: And after being with us for twenty years, we could

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Speaker 2: have franchised him or done other things. I said to

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Speaker 2: him when he did his last contract two years before that,

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Speaker 2: at year twenty, he would decide whether he stayed with

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Speaker 2: us or not. I think he had earned that right,

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Speaker 2: and for his own personal reasons, he felt it his

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Speaker 2: best to move on.

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Speaker 1: You also have the most successful coach practically in football history,

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Speaker 1: Bill Belichick, who you brought back to this team. I

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Speaker 1: guess about twenty some years ago. He had been coaching

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Speaker 1: at the New York Giants for a while, been here,

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Speaker 1: and then you brought him back as the head coach.

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Speaker 3: You'd been with us twenty four years. He has the

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Speaker 3: longest serving.

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Speaker 1: Coach in the NFL history. Nobody's I think, probably, Well,

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Speaker 1: somebody may have coached twenty four years of one team,

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Speaker 1: maybe George Hallis because he was the owner of the team.

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Speaker 1: But now six super Bowls. He's now been with you

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Speaker 1: twenty four years. Is he going to stay for another

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Speaker 1: X number of years? Or he can stay forever.

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Speaker 2: I'll let you ask him. He asked me, all right,

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Speaker 2: decide what's right for him. She said, wait a minute.

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Speaker 2: You paid twenty five million dollars for this. He's paying

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Speaker 2: you seventy five million dollars. You'll still own the stadium,

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Speaker 2: You'll get another team.

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Speaker 3: And I said, no.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about your background. Where were you born? I

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Speaker 1: guess from your accent you were probably born or raised

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Speaker 1: in Massachusetts.

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Speaker 2: Probably I still pot my kit here, but I grew

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Speaker 2: up in Brookline, mass went to public schools.

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Speaker 1: Were you an athlete?

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Speaker 2: Well, I like to think I was an athlete. My

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Speaker 2: favorite sport was football, but we observed the sabbath, and

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Speaker 2: unfortunately in high school I couldn't play football because of that.

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Speaker 2: But I was able to get a full academic scholarship

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Speaker 2: to Columbia College, and I went there and played football

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Speaker 2: there and just loved the game and realized how football

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Speaker 2: in life is the greatest training ground for people in

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Speaker 2: business or life or anything.

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Speaker 1: What did you do after you graduated from Columbia.

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Speaker 2: I was privileged to go to Harvard Business School.

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Speaker 1: So after you graduated from Harvard Business School, what did

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Speaker 1: you do?

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Speaker 2: My father in law had a couple box plants and

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Speaker 2: he wanted me to join them, and I didn't want

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Speaker 2: to be I wanted to go into business for myself.

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Speaker 2: My father advised me, since my wife at the time

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Speaker 2: was the equivalent of an only child, that I should

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Speaker 2: do that and out of respect, which I did. I

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Speaker 2: did it two years and I was going to leave,

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Speaker 2: and I was asked what I could do to stay,

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Speaker 2: and I said, you know, I'd want to buy into

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Speaker 2: the company. I didn't want to be working for other people,

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Speaker 2: even if they were relatives, and so.

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Speaker 3: I was able to do a leverage buyout.

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Speaker 1: So you were in the private equity world.

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Speaker 3: I started on my own.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, interest rates were favorable, and I bought half the company.

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Speaker 2: And then there was an opportunity to take over a

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Speaker 2: paper mill up in Canada, and I decided I wanted

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Speaker 2: to do it. I offered my father in law half

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Speaker 2: the company. He passed on it, and so.

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Speaker 3: I did it.

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Speaker 2: And fifty one years later, we've developed that into an

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Speaker 2: international company. We're in over one hundred and twenty countries

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Speaker 2: in the world and we're number six and paper and

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Speaker 2: Packaging and Prember six.

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Speaker 1: But it's a private owned company. You're not going to

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Speaker 1: take a public or sell it or anything.

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Speaker 3: Not in my lifetime.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So you're not selling the Patriots, you're not selling

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Speaker 1: the packaging company. I guess you don't like to sell things, right,

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Speaker 1: I really don't. Well, that's why you wouldn't be good

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Speaker 1: in the private equity business, because we like to sell things.

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Speaker 2: I get emotional attached too, and to the people working there.

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Speaker 2: We try to create a family environment in everything we're

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Speaker 2: involved in.

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Speaker 3: I've learned.

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Speaker 2: But people want to be part of something that's bigger

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Speaker 2: than themselves.

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Speaker 1: So let's talk about the team.

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Speaker 2: I see today that someone writes to check and they

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Speaker 2: bought the team. Unfortunately for me, it was a much

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Speaker 2: more complicated process.

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Speaker 3: There were three steps I had.

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Speaker 2: There were two hundred acres of parking that was owned

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Speaker 2: by one group, and I got that land under option

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Speaker 2: in eighty five. That went to ninety five, and coincidentally

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Speaker 2: I bought the team in ninety four, so I was

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Speaker 2: able to exercise the option, but that option on the

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Speaker 2: land was for parking. In eighty eight, eighty nine, the

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Speaker 2: stadium went into bankruptcy because of the Michael Jackson tour.

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Speaker 2: I at that time, Victor Kayam owned the team. He

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Speaker 2: bid seventeen million dollars for the stadium. I bid twenty five.

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Speaker 2: The judge awarded it to us. When I bought the

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Speaker 2: stadium in eighty eight, it had a lease that went

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Speaker 2: till one with an operating covenant, which mean the team

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Speaker 2: could never move without our permission. And finally, in ninety four,

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Speaker 2: which uh was the LA getting close to near the

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Speaker 2: end of the lease, they wanted to move the team

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Speaker 2: to Saint Louis. I wouldn't let the l James Orthwine,

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Speaker 2: who owned the team. He was part of the bud family,

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Speaker 2: Budweiser family, and they had a publicly financed stadium in

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Speaker 2: Saint Louis. They wanted to move it, and I wouldn't

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Speaker 2: let him do that.

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Speaker 1: Work out okay for you? Your late wife, uh wasn't

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Speaker 1: was a little nervous, I guess.

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Speaker 2: Before I went out to buy the team from Orthwine

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Speaker 2: in Saint Louis, she said, what are you gonna pay?

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Speaker 2: And I said, well, the right numbers one fifteen, and

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Speaker 2: I might go to one twenty one twenty two. And

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Speaker 2: when I came back and told her that I went

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Speaker 2: to one seventy two, she went nuts. And Orthwin's lawyer

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Speaker 2: from Saint Louis called me and said, we will offer

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Speaker 2: you seventy five million dollars to let the lease expire

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Speaker 2: and let us move. And he called me at home

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Speaker 2: and my wife heard that. She said, wait a minute.

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Speaker 2: You paid twenty five million dollars for this. He's paying

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Speaker 2: your seventy five million dollars. You'll still own the stadium.

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Speaker 2: You'll get another team, And I said no. I remember

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Speaker 2: when I was a kid, my team, my baseball team

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Speaker 2: was the Boston Braves.

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Speaker 3: They played at bu Feel.

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Speaker 2: They moved and they never came back, and I was heartsick,

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Speaker 2: and that's that's why I it wasn't about the money,

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Speaker 2: it was about the passion.

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Speaker 1: One of the other things you're passionate about is the

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Speaker 1: need to fight anti Semitism. You've created a foundation against

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Speaker 1: anti Semitism, to fight against anti Semitism. Why are you

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Speaker 1: so passionate about that cause? And is anti Semitism on

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Speaker 1: the rise?

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Speaker 2: I think anti Semitism is on the rise, and it's

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Speaker 2: very disturbing to me because it's symbolic of really it

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Speaker 2: starts with anti Semitism, then that.

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Speaker 3: Goes against every.

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Speaker 2: Other minority community, whether it's the Black community, the lgp

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Speaker 2: QT plus, or the Asian community. And you know, the

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Speaker 2: Jewish people in this country represent a little over two

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Speaker 2: percent of the population but receive over fifty percent of

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Speaker 2: the religious hate crimes. And there are many things going

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Speaker 2: on in America today that remind me of what went

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Speaker 2: on in Nazi Germany in the thirties. You know, they

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Speaker 2: had book burning in Nazi Germany where they couldn't read

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Speaker 2: Albert Einstein or Helen Keller or other kinds of books.

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Speaker 2: This is America, the greatest country in the world, and

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Speaker 2: those kinds of things shouldn't be going on.

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Speaker 1: Let me ask you have a pin on you that pin,

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Speaker 1: I guess is a pin for your foundation. What does

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Speaker 1: it represent?

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Speaker 2: It's a blue square that we wanted to find something

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Speaker 2: that symbolized pushing back against hatred and that is a

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Speaker 2: symbol of unity and solidarity against all kinds of hate.

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Speaker 2: And I'm technologically incompetent, but even I could get this

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Speaker 2: blue This little emoji is on everybody's cell phone and

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Speaker 2: iPad and you can put it on every message. Every

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Speaker 2: email I sent has this little blue square.

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Speaker 1: So you made a very large contribution to this foundation

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Speaker 1: to help enhance its reputation and people knowing about it,

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Speaker 1: and I assume other people are contributing as well.

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Speaker 2: We've had amazing support. Our family and now has committed

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Speaker 2: over seventy five million dollars to a Bank of America

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Speaker 2: has committed ten million dollars. There are many families who

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Speaker 2: have made seven figure gifts. I shouldn't say their names

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Speaker 2: unless they give us permission, but we've touched a nerve.

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Speaker 2: There's something going on in this country where people want

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Speaker 2: to push back and are looking for a vehicle, and

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Speaker 2: I think this little blue square, it's hope it goes

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Speaker 2: viral and push us back against all hatred and bigotry

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Speaker 2: and let us preserve the American dream that I think

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Speaker 2: both you and I have experienced.

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Speaker 1: So let's talk about Israel for a moment. You were

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Speaker 1: awarded what is called the Jewish Nobel Prize, it's called

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Speaker 1: the Genesis Prize for contributions if you've made to Israel

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Speaker 1: and the Jewish people over many, many years. Did you

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Speaker 1: ever visit Israel as a young person. Was that very

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Speaker 1: important to you or were you just not that connected

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Speaker 1: to Israel?

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Speaker 2: When I got married, someone gave us a honeymoon gift

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Speaker 2: of a trip to the Holy Land. I went there

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Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty three when the country was fifteen.

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Speaker 3: Years old, and so I've watched.

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Speaker 2: The advancement, you know, it's what that was sixty years ago. Wow,

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Speaker 2: And the country is amazing. And I think what Israel

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Speaker 2: has done technology wise and the contributions it's made have

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Speaker 2: been tremendous.

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Speaker 1: So the secret to your success is prayer. Then, obviously

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Speaker 1: you say you've been praying a lot there.

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Speaker 2: Prayer is very spirituality, prayer and giving thanks to the

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Speaker 2: Almighty God and understanding how privileged we are and if

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Speaker 2: we have our health and can pay our bills.

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Speaker 1: Now, how many grandchildren.

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Speaker 3: Do you have I have eight grandchildren.

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Speaker 1: And do they come to the games?

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Speaker 2: And you know, that's the one thing and why I

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Speaker 2: would never sell this or do anything. As your family

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Speaker 2: gets dispersed and everyone goes different places, it's the one thing,

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Speaker 2: you know. I used to take my sons to the games.

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Speaker 2: I used to get them out of religious school on

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Speaker 2: Sundays without their mother's knowledge. And we come in and

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Speaker 2: we tailgate here and spend the day here and get

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Speaker 2: to know all our neighbors who sat in the seats

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Speaker 2: around us. And it's lasting memories

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Speaker 3: And