Home Economy Economic Activity Kraft Group sues Foxborough over $950K entertainment license renewal fee

Kraft Group sues Foxborough over $950K entertainment license renewal fee

By

PBN Staff

-

06/17/2026

THE KRAFT Group has filed a complaint against the town of Foxborough for allegedly abusing its licensing authority when it charged the plaintiffs nearly $1 million in administrative fees for its entertainment license renewal for Gillette Stadium. / PBN FILE PHOTO

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The Kraft Group has filed a lawsuit against the town for allegedly abusing its licensing authority when it charged the company nearly $1 million in administrative fees for its entertainment license renewal for Gillette Stadium. The complaint, filed June 15 in Norfolk Superior Court, claims that the town illegally charged a Kraft Group subsidiary $950,000 in

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The Kraft Group has filed a lawsuit against the town for allegedly abusing its licensing authority when it charged the company nearly $1 million in administrative fees for its entertainment license renewal for Gillette Stadium. The complaint, filed June 15 in Norfolk Superior Court, claims that the town illegally charged a Kraft Group subsidiary $950,000 in April 2026 because the state authorizes a maximum renewal fee of only $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 payments 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.” Foxborough town officials told multiple media outlets on Tuesday that the $950,000 is a mandatory condition of renewal tied to expenses the town incurs with the “growing increasingly complex” security needs for events at Gillette Stadium and taxpayers should not subsidize the cost. 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 in the lawsuit. "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 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 on 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.