The tour tanked, mostly because the Jacksons wouldn't match Chuck's guarantee on revenue with a guarantee of their own on expenses. Michael Felger, in Tales From The Patriots Sideline, adds details to the fiasco: It all added to the idea that Chuck and his family were in over their heads financially. and Sullivan Stadium itself, which Chuck Sullivan owned and managed. The collateral for loans for the licensing agreement was Stadium Management Corp. In addition, court records also indicated that the family lost $14 million on Sullivan's licensing of T-shirts and other memorabilia from the tour, for a total of roughly $20 to $22 million in losses for the family. Sullivan later estimated in court that the tour ended up costing the Sullivan family between $6 million and $8 million, while King made money on the venture. And they were clearly out of their league when it came to negotiating with King. But the family didn't take into account the cost of fronting such a massive undertaking-the Jacksons were using the largest stage in music history, one so huge that it took reconstruction of many of the concert venues just to get the staging inside the stadiums. They had lost millions when the players went out on strike in 1982, but they were hit hardest a few years later when they went into business with legendary promoter Don King on the Jacksons' "Victory Tour." On the surface, it seemed like a sound financial decision, one that could make the Sullivan family millions: Fronted by their world-famous brother Michael (who was just coming off the success of the album Thriller), the Jackson Family would tour America together for the first time in over a decade. were getting deeper and deeper over their heads financially. It was risky, but "the option gave me ten years to try to figure out how to get the team," he says.Īccording to Christopher Price in The Blueprint: How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower: In 1985 Kraft bought a ten-year option on the property, paying a group of Boston businessmen $1 million a year for first dibs to buy the land someday for $18 million. The Sullivan family, founding owners of the Patriots, owned the team and the stadium but not the surrounding land. The fact that Michael Jackson was involved along the way, only adds to the story.įorbes Magazine printed a story in September of 2005 on Robert Kraft and his "Unlikely Dynasty." Kraft's plan to fulfill his dream of becoming the owner of the Patriots was a long, methodical process where he learned from his earlier experiences and mistakes, and put himself in a position to buy the team when the opportune moment presented itself. From their oh-so-humble beginnings, through the brash bumblings and bad decisions of forever-strapped-for-cash founder Billy Sullivan and his sons, the Patriots carved out a unique path in becoming what ESPN has crowned them, the Team of the Decade. Anyone who is even remotely familiar with New England Patriots history wouldn't bat an eyelash at the above headline.
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