Patriots

Foxborough is a small town southwest of Boston, and for decades it has organised its Sundays around a team that does not actually carry the city's name. The Patriots began life in 1960 as a Boston franchise, a charter member of the American Football League, and only found their permanent ground when they settled in Foxborough in 1971 — by then already rebranded New England, a nod to a region rather than a single city. Before that they had shuffled between Boston University Field, Fenway Park, Alumni Stadium and Harvard Stadium, a wandering start that makes the eventual stability at Gillette Stadium feel earned rather than assumed.

The town's identity and the club's are now hard to separate from one run: six Super Bowl titles between 2001 and 2018, built around Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. Belichick arrived in 2000 and stayed two decades, becoming the winningest coach the franchise has had; Brady, who became the face of everything that followed. Together they turned a team with one league title from the 1960s into the standard other franchises measured themselves against, adding twelve AFC Championships along the way.

That era did not pass without scrutiny — Spygate in 2007 and Deflategate in 2015 both attached themselves to the team's name and have stayed part of how the dynasty is discussed. Since Brady left in 2020 and Belichick followed in 2023, the club has been rebuilding, with Mike Vrabel taking over as head coach in 2025.

The rivalry with the New York Jets, still called the Border War, dates back to the league's earliest days — long before Foxborough had a stadium to call its own.