New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft will not enter the National Football League Hall of Fame this year, ESPN reported on Tuesday.
Kraft failed to garner 40 votes from the 50-person selection committee in Canton, Ohio, just days before his team is set to compete in a record 12th appearance at the Super Bowl.
“What matters to me is we win Sunday,” Kraft told CNBC on Tuesday when asked about the hall’s vote. “That’s a function of how the team we’re involved with is organized, and I can’t speak on issues where other people are voting or doing things.”
Kraft’s rejection follows the Hall of Fame’s decision to also snub longtime Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who won six Super Bowls for Kraft as head coach and de facto general manager of the Patriots from 2000 to 2023.
Kraft, who is Jewish, unveiled a $15 million advertisement from his Blue Square Alliance Against Hate to combat antisemitism on Tuesday that will run during Sunday’s game between the Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks.
“I love this country, and I’m really worried with the divisiveness and the hate that’s going on in so many different areas,” Kraft said. “That’s not what this country is about. It’s not why our ancestors came here.”
Kraft and Belichick will remain eligible for election to the Hall of Fame in 2027. The hall will reveal its selections on Thursday.
