New England Patriots become first NFL team to have own planes

Cool. It's ammunition for the other owners: " You guys start winning 5 super bowls in the

same time the Patriots did, I will buy you guys a 767 wide-body....two of them!

They deserve them! Way to go Kraft. and I'm a Cowboy fan! ( not dillusional though...they

just suck for the past 21yrs)

 

Saw that. Plane looks nice.

Now, be fair, Cowboys have not sucked for the entire 21 years, just most of them! This year, however, is our year!
T

 

Paul Allen used to use one of his 757s for the Seahawks during football season, and the Blazers during basketball season. The football season is so short that it doesn't really make sense to own an airplane just for that.

Paul ended up getting rid of both 757s, because in the end charter was more cost effective for the sports teams (or so I heard).

 

From what I've read, the young man has been lighting it up in training camp. Will be interested to see how he does...T

 

I didn't know you were a Texans fan Juan. It's definitely going to be a much more interesting season than last year. Lol

 

Apparently they are going to lease the jet to other teams on the weeks they are not using it. Smart. But overall that is not that many weeks of use. 4 weeks preseason, 17 regular season, 4 weeks playoffs??

 

that's half the year.

I bet in the offseason you can charter it out to groups that want to ride in the Patriots plane

NASCAR teams have been doing this for years in regional jet sized planes to get team personnel to tracks on race day. Roush has a 727/737 and a few others have Embraers, etc.

sell extra seats to smaller teams, race officials, journalists etc and it makes some sense. not to mention being able to do things commercial can't do (like flying from Charlotte to Bristol TN or Martinsville VA at 6:30 Sunday morning and return 8pm Sunday night).

 

The issue with football and basketball teams is the interior arrangement. A regular airline arrangement does not work. Generally require much larger seat pitch and width, which is what the Patriots planes are being outfitted with. So for an off-season tourist style charter it would be like all first class, which would not be your typical charter $ wise.

 

Baseball teams began doing this in the late '50s. After moving to L.A. the Dodgers had a DC-7 which was later replaced by a Lockheed Electra. It was the availability of increasingly reliable and fast air travel that allowed MLB teams to move to the west coast in the first place. (Before 1958, the farthest west any team was was in Kansas City.)

 

More interesting than Brock-mania? Surely you jest!
T

 

Close, St Louis. KC was essentially a farm team for the Yankees. They joined MLB in 1969.

To this day, Cards are still very popular outside their immediate geographical location for this reason. That and KMOX had great range!
T

 

a Patriots-branded all first class charter plane for your corporate event or destination wedding from BOS-Florida/Bahamas would be able to charge a premium

 

Again, this is nothing new. I don't know why it got any sort of attention, except that they must have an excellent PR person.

Paul Allen was doing this years ago with his 757s. He would use them for the Seahawks and the Blazers, and that got a fair amount of use. Eventually, though, he decided that it wasn't cost effective and got rid of them.

In this case, I've heard that the owner plans to use the airplanes for all of his sports teams, which makes a reasonable amount of sense... although, see the Paul Allen example above, so maybe in the end it doesn't pencil out.

 

Why would they use it for home games????

 

I'll guarantee you my daughter(s) will not be chartering ANY airplane for a destination wedding.

edit: unless that Powerball ticket ($350M) I bought yesterday wins.

 

Cuz it's all about arriving in style!
T

 

That started out as plausible excitement, then turned into a comedy of errors and "aww shucks moments", and then became the feeling of being embarrassed for the guy because that he could actually still speak with confidence lol.

 

If there's a party thrown by Gronk at 50K feet, I'd sign up for that lol.

 

It'd be like the Gronk Party Bus with wigs! I can't see the FAA allowing that.
T

 

That is when they would lease it out. I am saying total use for the NFL would be the full season.

 

You forget the Kansas City Athletics, who spent some years there on their way from Philadelphia to Oakland.....

 

Wayne Huizenga has/had a 737 with the Dolphins logo on the tail. He used to own half the team, but now down to 5%. It's a BBJ so not really made to carry an entire team...pretty cool.

I remember the 2006 Bears taking a United 747 from Chicago to Miami for the Superbowl against the Colts. It seemed overkill to take that...