Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie is a Boston guy at heart, and if the Patriots were playing anyone else in the Super Bowl this week, he would be planning for New England to win. For now, Lurie owns the NFL team in Philadelphia. But on the other side, he has a deep weakness for the New England. It was so deep that in 1960 Boston native attended the Patriots’ first home game ever back.
In 1994, the Patriots came up for sale and Lurie decided to try and buy the team. But he wasn’t able to buy the team because someone else stepped in. That person was non-other than the owner of current patriot Robert Kraft. In 1994, Kraft purchased the team for around $175 million. For the Patriots, it worked out well. After that, the Patriots stayed in New England. During that bid, another bidder named Stan Kroenke had been trying to buy the Patriots. He wanted to move them to St. Louis.
Well, for Lurie, it was fine as that kept the Patriot in New England and three months later after he missed out on buying the Patriots, he managed to by the Eagles for around $185 million.
He was asked about the situation of the Patriot back in 2014 during a practice season when the Patriots and Eagles held a joint practice.
Lurie said he wanted to buy a team that had a passionate fan base and he hit a home run by purchasing the Eagles.
During an interview, Lurie stated “I’ve never actually looked back on it. It’s always been forward. I sort of love the fact that I was able to buy a team where it was urbaner. Because the Patriots were in Foxboro when I was bidding on them, and a fan base like the Eagles, one of the old line franchises, I’ve just never looked back, never for one second.”
