What year were the Patriots founded?
History of the New England Patriots
Throughout his tenure as owner of the Patriots, Robert Kraft attempted to get a new stadium built somewhere in New England. After failing to reach an accord with either the City of Boston or the State of Rhode Island, in 1998 Kraft came close to reaching a deal with the Massachusetts Legislature for Kraft to build a new, self-financed stadium adjacent to the old stadium with the state providing $75 million in infrastructure improvements. However, Massachusetts House Speaker Tom Finneran refused to support the bill, saying that he did not want public money benefiting private interests. Unable to overcome Finneran's objections, Kraft reached a deal with Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland to build a new stadium in Hartford, Connecticut, originally scheduled to open in 2001.  However, after the stadium plan was approved by the Connecticut General Assembly, there were a number of problems discovered with the proposed stadium site that would result in considerable delay of the stadium construction.  At the same time, the NFL announced loan incentives where teams in the six largest markets (which included Boston) could be eligible to borrow up to $150 million from the league at advantageous interest rates and terms in order to build new stadiums. Furthermore, the Massachusetts Legislature, and Finneran, also indicated that they would be amenable to further discussions with Kraft.