.Jim Civilinski is a pre-Parcells season ticket holder. That means he’s been going to New England Patriot games for a long time. Civilinski’s been a fan since they were the Boston Patriots. He has seen good times — including two runs at a Super Bowl.
But Civilinski has also sat through some long, cold winters. He has watched Rod Rust and Ron Mayer coach. He’s watched Marc Wilson and Hugh Millen play quarterback. So when word came last month that the team’s owner, Robert Kraft, was moving the Patriots to Hartford, Civilinski the fan was heartbroken.
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“It’s tough to swallow,” said Civilinski.
But Civilinski is also a businessman. And his family business, Route 1 Liquor Mart in Foxboro, has been around for more than 40 years. It is located just a few hundred yards north of the stadium.
“We were here before the Pats,” he said.
While the deal between the State of Connecticut and Kraft must be approved by National Football League owners and the Connecticut legislature, it appears the New England Patriots will open their 2001 season in a new $350 million complex in downtown Hartford.
For business owners along Route 1 and around Foxboro Stadium, the departure of the Patriots may represent more opportunity, than lost business. One business owner said simply; “This could be a bonanza for us.”
A bonanza?
Word around Foxboro is that Kraft’s telephone has been ringing off the hook. Some calls, of course, are from irate fans. But others are developers wondering what Kraft plans to do with 300 acres of land he controls around the stadium.
To date, Kraft has not said what his long-term plans are for the New England Revolution, a professional soccer team that also plays at Foxboro Stadium. For the time being, the team will continue to call Foxboro home.
Since a formal press conference in Hartford announcing the details of the move, Kraft has had little to say about related details. During a brief interview during a Monday Night Football telecast on Nov. 23, Kraft told a reporter he was more interested in the game between the Patriots and the Miami Dolphins than discussing his decision to move the franchise.
But the attention of Foxboro officials now must turn to recouping lost revenues. Foxboro has a population of just under 17,000. It encompasses approximately 21 square miles.
Town Administrator Andrew A. Gala, Jr. said that losing the New England Patriots will cost the town $500,000 per year. And as long as Kraft owns Foxboro Stadium, the landscape for commercial development opportunities has not changed.
“We’ll have to cut back in some areas and talk to our planner and planning board about what kind of development we may be able to do up there,” said Gala.
Civilinski acknowledges that much hinges on Kraft’s next moves. But he sees a bright future for his business, even when the Patriot fans start spending their Sundays in Hartford.
Civilinski has always been closed on Sundays. When the team has played on Monday nights, Civilinski found that instead of increasing business, the crowds drove his regular customers away.
“From a business standpoint, there will be no impact for us,” he said. As far as losing tax revenues, he thinks the town can more than make up for the dollars now earmarked for Connecticut coffers.
“With the proper development of Route 1, the town could probably double what it loses in terms of the tax base,” he said. “A lot will depend on what Bob Kraft wants to do with the stadium.”
In all the years that Civilinski has attended Patriot games, one of the toughest players he ever watched had to have been Steve Grogan, a quarterback out of Kansas. Grogan played for the New England Patriots for 16 years and is among the most popular players in the franchise’s history. Though a Kansas native, Grogan has been a New Englander since signing with the Patriots. He now runs Grogan-Marciano Sporting Goods on North Main Street in Mansfield. Word of the Patriots’ move came as a disappointment to the quarterback-turned-businessman.
“I understand why Bob Kraft is doing what he’s doing,” Grogan said. “If someone offered me that kind of a deal to move my business, I’d be gone. But it’s like a close friend has been transferred. You know you’ll see him, but not nearly as much.”
Grogan predicts that any significant changes in the area surrounding the stadium will take time.
“I don’t know how soon any development is going to take place,” Grogan said.
Grogan does not see the Patriots’ move as directly impacting businesses in the area, but dies see a peripheral impact.
“There are a lot of civic organizations and youth groups who made money by cleaning up the stadium after games and selling hot dogs,” Grogan said. “That’s the kind of money that gets spent in the community that people don’t relate to the Patriots.”
