NFL franchise attempt In 1959, Sullivan requested a National Football League franchise in Boston. The NFL turned his offer down, in part because five previous attempts at NFL franchises in Boston had either folded or moved. Sullivan named his son,
Patrick, as general manager and his other son,
Chuck, as executive vice president. In 1964, Sullivan helped the AFL negotiate a 5-year, $30 million television agreement with
NBC.
New England Patriots In March 1971, Sullivan changed the team's name from the
Boston Patriots to the
New England Patriots to correspond with the team's move to
Schaefer Stadium in
Foxborough, Massachusetts, and to embrace all of
New England (a previous decision in February to rebrand as the "Bay State Patriots" was rejected). In 1974, Sullivan was ousted as president of the Patriots despite owning more than 20% of the voting stock. By the end of 1975, the Sullivans had bought out the minority partners and regained control. This was out of necessity; the only way he could pay back the $5.3 million in loans that he took out to buy out his partners was to acquire all of the outstanding stock. In order to do this, Sullivan needed to buy out the non-voting public shareholders. In 1986, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found the purchase of the minority shareholders was illegal, since it was for Sullivan's personal benefit. The court deemed his actions constituted a waste of corporate assets. The court ordered that the shareholders be paid $80 per share plus 9% interest per year since the purchase was completed. The Sullivans had never been among the wealthier NFL owners; by at least one estimate, the losses from the tour equaled the Sullivans' net worth. The Victory Tour losses were particularly hard on the Patriots because Sullivan had only been able to get financing for the tour by pledging Sullivan Stadium as collateral. In hopes of finding a way out, Sullivan asked
Reebok CEO
Paul Fireman to purchase a stake in the team. When that effort failed, Sullivan was forced to sell the team to a syndicate headed by
Remington Products owner
Victor Kiam for $83 million. Sullivan remained as the team's president until
1992, when he and Kiam sold the team to
James Orthwein. However, the stadium lapsed into bankruptcy and was purchased by Boston paper magnate
Robert Kraft. During Sullivan's
28 seasons owning the team, the Patriots tallied 14 winning records, made six playoff appearances, played in the 1963 AFL Championship Game and represented the AFC in
Super Bowl XX. In 1991, Sullivan filed a $116 million antitrust lawsuit against the NFL and accepted an $11.5 million settlement of the case in 1996. ==Death==