Robert Kraft has been here before. The Patriots beat the Denver Broncos 10-7 on Sunday and punched Kraft’s eleventh ticket to the Super Bowl as an owner. Yet the doors to Canton’s Hall of Fame remain firmly closed, his gold jacket still missing. That lingering snub is exactly what pushed Patriots legend Julian Edelman to speak up.

“You know who’s looking like a f–king G right now? RKK [Robert Kraft],” Edelman said on the latest episode of his Games With Names podcast. “RKK looking like a G. I think he’s the only owner to bring three different coaches, three different quarterbacks to a Super Bowl. This is his 12th Super Bowl. My guy needs to be in the Hall of Fame. They’ve got to put him in.”

Well, the Patriots have advanced to the Super Bowl 12 times, including this year, while Kraft has been an owner through 11 of those appearances. And it goes without saying that former Patriots player Edelman knows a thing or two about winning in New England. He spent 12 years with the Patriots, helped them secure three Super Bowl wins, and earned his own Patriots Hall of Fame induction last year.

Moreover, Edelman’s defense is rooted in a two-decade run of dominance that Kraft engineered from the top down.

The owner has played a massive role in turning the Patriots into a global sports powerhouse. Since he bought the team in 1994, New England has enjoyed a level of success few franchises in any sport can match. The Patriots have won six Super Bowls to date, all while setting a gold standard for organizational stability and excellence. But Kraft didn’t get everything right at first, of course. 

During the early years of his ownership, with Bill Parcells and Pete Carroll as the head coaches of his team, Kraft learned some hard lessons. But those experiences helped shape his biggest decision: keeping Bill Belichick in charge of the Patriots for 24 seasons. Kraft also managed to keep Tom Brady, arguably the biggest quarterback in the NFL, in New England for 20 seasons. 

Together, Belichick and Brady turned the Patriots into a machine. Under their leadership, the Patriots went 219-64 and won six Super Bowls. The duo also helped the Pats dominate the AFC East with a remarkable run of 17 division titles. 

But then came the end of the Brady-Belichick era, and New England saw more losses than wins. In 2024, Robert Kraft drafted quarterback Drake Maye with high hopes, but the Patriots stumbled to a 4-13 record that year. Many owners might have panicked, but Kraft stayed patient. He doubled down on his belief in the young QB and hired Mike Vrabel as head coach last offseason. The result? A stunning turnaround. 

New England went 14-3 this season and is now headed to Super Bowl LX. Now, at 84 years old, Kraft could easily step away and enjoy everything he has built. But he says the connection to New England’s community keeps pulling him back.

“Seeing what it means to the community,” Robert Kraft said earlier this month on The Quick Snap podcast. “Having something that we can rally around that’s real. Hearing the fans and their appreciation puts a great responsibility on my family to do whatever we can to put us in the position to win.”

But despite everything on his résumé, Kraft has already been passed over 13 times for Hall of Fame induction. Meanwhile, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones earned his spot in Canton back in 2017, becoming just the 15th owner to receive that honor. Why the delay for Kraft? Some believe the Patriots’ controversies, like Spygate and Deflategate, continue to cast a shadow on Kraft’s HOF candidacy.  

It was only last year that Robert Kraft became a finalist in the Contributor Category for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026. But the next steps to Kraft’s enshrinement in the HOF aren’t simple. The HOF’s 50 selectors will vote for three candidates, and only the ones who receive at least 80% affirmative votes from selectors will be inducted. 

But Kraft’s case isn’t just built on past glories; it’s also built on the very foundation of Gillette Stadium, a fortress he intentionally designed to give his team a ruthless competitive edge.

Why Robert Kraft refuses to build a dome for the Patriots

When the Patriots moved into Gillette Stadium in 2002, it quickly became one of the toughest places to play late in the season. Freezing temperatures, roaring fans, and brutal conditions often turn the outdoor stadium in New England into a fortress. But according to Kraft, that home-field advantage is no accident. Kraft recently explained that he deliberately chose not to build a dome, and he even pointed to the Buffalo Bills of the early 1990s as inspiration.

“When I bought the team [Patriots], and I realized Buffalo had gone to four straight Super Bowls the year before we bought, it made me realize that I never wanted to have a dome,” Kraft said last week in an interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub. “They won games because the players don’t like coming up into a cold place like that.

Top Stories

Bills Officially Cut Ties With 4 Players as Josh Allen Remain Without HC After Philip Rivers Quits

ICE to Conduct Immigration Enforcement at Patriots vs. Seahawks Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium, as Per Official

Strahan Family in Mourning as Michael Strahan’s Cancer-Free Daughter Grieves Close Friend’s Loss After Cancer Battle

Travis Kelce Makes Major Career Decision as Chiefs TE Contemplates Retirement

Jerry Jones’ Cowboys Make Triple Firing Decision After Blocking Coach’s Exit

“How many of these indoor teams in the playoffs want to come here and play outdoors? So, we’re going to look with a salary cap, you’ve got to get every competitive advantage you can.”

Highmark Stadium in Buffalo has long been a nightmare for visiting teams in January. The Bills’ playoff game against the Las Vegas Raiders on January 15, 1994, remains one of the coldest in NFL history, with a kickoff temperature of zero degrees. Buffalo won that game 29-23, and their comfort in those conditions made a clear difference.

New England benefits from the same weather effects in Gillette Stadium. Remember what happened to Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud in the Divisional Round game? The QB threw four interceptions at Gillette in freezing conditions. It was proof that New England’s environment is still an advantage in a league obsessed with domes and controlled climates.

Kraft also pointed to another example to drive home his point. He noted that Tom Brady also went 0-3 in playoff games on the road against Denver. The Broncos’ stadium at Mile High sits at high altitude, and that has long given them a unique edge.

“I think the Broncos have [a competitive advantage] with their altitude,” Kraft said. “That’s something that – look, Tommy lost three games up there. Think about that.”

While Kraft continues to oversee upgrades to Gillette Stadium, he remains committed to keeping it open-air. The Patriots own a 24-5 playoff record at home. It’s the best record among teams with at least 15 games. But now, New England has already played its final home game of the 2025 season. 

The Patriots’ road to Super Bowl LX leads to California. And if they win a seventh Super Bowl this February, the pressure on the selection committee to induct Robert Kraft will become impossible to ignore.