Kraft has owned the New England Patriots since 1994 and has long been one of the NFL\u2019s most powerful and influential owners.getty images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Robert Kraft was a successful but anonymous New England Patriots season-ticket holder in 1985 when he took his first small step toward sports business royalty: renting the parking lots around the old Foxboro Stadium with a plan to buy them. That led to his owning the stadium, then owning the team, which led to his founding role in Major League Soccer and influence at the highest levels of the NFL and media. Then by hiring Bill Belichick and drafting Tom Brady in early 2000, Kraft put together the pieces that would spawn the greatest modern dynasty in sports history.<\/p>\n 2009 \u2014 <\/span>Peter Ueberroth Even as he enters his 80s, Kraft continues to exert influence in a wide range of areas. In recent years he has joined cultural and business stars to change politics and the sports industry forever. He remains one of American football\u2019s two or three most important people. And he\u2019s become a cultural figure and confidant to leaders of a new generation, like Fanatics founder Michael Rubin and hip hop mogul Jay-Z.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n Kraft will be the recipient of Sports Business Journal\u2019s Lifetime Achievement Award for 2022. He will be honored at the Sports Business Awards on May 18 in New York.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOne big appeal of sports ownership is the path it provides to greater influence in the wider business world and culture,\u201d said SBJ Publisher and Executive Editor Abe Madkour. \u201cNot only has Robert Kraft built a world-class franchise with Kraft Sports Group, he\u2019s developed close, unique relationships across a world far wider than football, and in doing so, has made himself and fellow NFL owners that much more powerful and successful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n At the end of an acrimonious labor negotiation with the NFL Players Association in 2011, key players anointed Kraft a hero of the talks. \u201cHe is a man who helped us save football,\u201d said then-Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday. \u201cWe\u2019re so gracious for that, we\u2019re gracious for his family and for the opportunity he presented to get this deal done.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The Patriots have won six Super Bowls under Kraft.getty images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Just last year, on the day Commissioner Roger Goodell told Kraft and the other owners about the blockbuster $110 billion in media rights contracts, it was Kraft who Goodell singled out for praise. Kraft leveraged his personal relationships with the heads of every network to get the deals to the finish line, and put real elbow grease into the increasingly complicated details of the blended streaming\/broadcast world.<\/span><\/p>\n Kraft established the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation upon his purchase of the team in 1994. Directly or through the Kraft Family Foundation, the Krafts have given more than $800 million to charity. Major priorities have included community health care, cancer research, Jewish culture and interfaith dialogue.<\/span><\/p>\n But Kraft has done more than spend his considerable wealth. He\u2019s put his time, fame and energy into making change too. He took a leading role in publicizing the plight of imprisoned rapper Meek Mill and then co-founding the Reform Alliance, a criminal justice reform organization. At the start of the pandemic, he and son Jonathan Kraft sent the Patriots\u2019 private plane to China to import 1.2 billion N95 masks as the U.S. struggled to fill a supply shortage.<\/span><\/p>\n SBJ will profile Kraft in a May issue before he is honored at the Sports Business Awards.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nSBJ Lifetime Achievement Award<\/h3>\n
2011 \u2014\u00a0<\/span>Billie Jean King
2012 \u2014\u00a0<\/span>Paul Tagliabue
2013 \u2014 Jerry Reinsdorf
2014\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>Dan Rooney
2015\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>Dick Ebersol
2016\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>Bud Selig
2017\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>Jerry Jones
2018 \u2014 Michael Eisner
2019 \u2014 Tim Finchem
2020 \u2014 Larry Tanenbaum
2021 \u2014 Paul Fireman
2022 \u2014 Robert Kraft<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n