For a 13th straight year, Robert Kraft’s bid for the Pro Football Hall of Fame remains on ice.
The committee overseeing the Hall’s contributor category bypassed the New England Patriots owner in favor of Ralph Hay, who helped set up the original meetings for the league that became the NFL, according to a league source. Hay was also owner of the Canton Bulldogs from 1918 to 1922, winning an NFL title with them.
Kraft, 83, has hoped to join the game’s greats in the Hall of Fame for multiple years now but was again passed over by the committee.
Kraft’s supporters would note that since Jerry Jones, who has overseen three Super Bowl teams, is in the Hall of Fame, Kraft certainly should be considering he’s won twice as many Super Bowls, while, like Jones, serving as one of the game’s most influential figures. Kraft chairs the league’s core media committee, which was responsible for securing a new media rights deal in 2021 reportedly worth more than $100 billion and helped broker a deal in 2011 that ended a lockout. Kraft also built Gillette Stadium and oversaw the creation of Patriot Place, a multi-use commercial complex that became the envy of other owners.
While it’s unclear the exact reasons the committee hasn’t yet chosen Kraft to enter the Hall of Fame, it’s possible that the Patriots’ scandals (Spygate and Deflategate top among them) and Kraft’s 2019 misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution charges in Florida, which were dropped, played a role.
Kraft has been a finalist for consideration from the committee for 13 straight years.
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Sixteen owners have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame, including five in the last 25 years: Dan Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers (2000), Ralph Wilson of the Buffalo Bills (2016), Eddie DeBartolo of the San Francisco 49ers (2016), Jones (2017) and Pat Bowlen of the Denver Broncos (2018).
Hay’s selection will now go to full consideration for the Hall of Fame in January 2025.
But for at least one more year, Kraft’s wait continues.
Required reading
• Buckley: Robert Kraft would be worthy Hall of Fame candidate even without Super Bowl rings
• Robert Kraft a no-doubter for Hall, but discussion is a win for NFL’s owner glorification
• Patriots owner Robert Kraft suggests he should’ve given Bill Belichick more ‘checks and balances’
(Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
