Home Economy Economic Activity Foxborough counters Kraft Group’s lawsuit challenging $950K entertainment license renewal fee

Foxborough counters Kraft Group’s lawsuit challenging $950K entertainment license renewal fee

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PBN Staff

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07/08/2026

THE TOWN of Foxborough is asking a Norfolk County Superior Court judge to dismiss The Kraft Group’s lawsuit that alleges the town abused its licensing authority by charging nearly $1 million in Gillette Stadium entertainment license renewal fees. / PBN FILE PHOTO

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Foxborough officials are asking a Norfolk County Superior Court judge to dismiss The Kraft Group’s lawsuit alleging that the town abused its licensing authority by charging nearly $1 million entertainment license renewal fees at Gillette Stadium, WPRI-TV CBS 12 reported Tuesday. On June 15, The Kraft Group filed a lawsuit claiming the

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Foxborough officials are asking a Norfolk County Superior Court judge to dismiss The Kraft Group’s lawsuit alleging that the town abused its licensing authority by charging nearly $1 million entertainment license renewal fees at Gillette Stadium, WPRI-TV CBS 12 reported Tuesday. On June 15, The Kraft Group filed a lawsuit claiming the town illegally charged its subsidiary $950,000 in April because the state authorizes a maximum renewal fee of $100 per year. The Kraft Group – comprised of New England Patriots LLC, Kraft Sports + Entertainment LLC, Kraft Soccer LLC and NPS LLC, which operates Gillette Stadium – is seeking a court order to void the charges beyond the state authorized $100 fee. Town officials used “what should have been a routine entertainment license renewal as a pretext to charge [Kraft Sports + Entertainment] approximately $1 million annually in new administrative fees,” the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit. “This case is about Foxboro repeatedly misusing its state-granted licensing authority unlawfully to extract funds.” In the lawsuit, Kraft Sports + Entertainment contends it already pays an additional $4 million to the town to cover detail services for firefighters and police officers. “No court has ever interpreted [the state law] to allow a town to make a licensee responsible for part of the town’s public safety payroll as a ‘condition’ of obtaining an entertainment license,” the plaintiffs said. “An additional substantial percentage of Foxborough’s revenue stems from business that would not exist in Foxborough if Gillette Stadium were not also located there.” In its counterclaim filed Tuesday, the town said the Kraft Group must pay for public safety services needed to “ensure safe and efficient events at their private venue,” rather than shifting those costs to Foxborough taxpayers. “The agreed-upon vehicle to manage these required payments has, for many years, been the entertainment license issued to the [Kraft Group], but now, for whatever reason, they have made the decision to challenge this tried and true process,” said the counterclaim obtained by WPRI. The town also claims the Kraft Group’s stadium lease requires it to cover all public safety costs the town deems appropriate. “Despite this plain and unambiguous obligation, and the long history of honoring such obligations through the annual entertainment licenses, the [Kraft Group]’s complaint makes clear that they intend to breach this obligation, as well as the obligation, under the lease, to indemnify the town,” according to the lawsuit obtained by WPRI. The town is seeking dismissal of lawsuit with prejudice due to the “frivolity of the complaint,” or, if the court determines the town has exceeded its authority, that Gillette Stadium’s current entertainment license be voided until the Foxborough Select Board is able to conduct new proceedings, WPRI reported. In March, Kraft Sports + Entertainment and the town’s Select Board were at odds over who was going to pay for the estimated $7.8 million in security costs for the seven FIFA World Cup matches at Gillette Stadium. The Select Board in March unanimously approved the entertainment license for the venue, after Kraft Sports, owner of the New England Patriots and New England Revolution, and Boston 2026, which is the regional World Cup organizer for the games at Gillette Stadium, announced a deal with Foxborough to cover the security costs.