New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, like his former head coach Bill Belichick, was not selected for entry into this year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame class, multiple league sources told ESPN.
Kraft, a first-time Hall of Fame finalist this year, did not receive enough votes from the 50-person selection committee to be included in the Class of 2026, which will be announced Thursday night at the NFL Honors in San Francisco.
Interestingly enough, the Hall of Fame’s new voting requirements in 2025 helped pit Kraft against Belichick. Kraft was one of five finalists among contributors, coaches and senior players who last appeared in a game in 2000 or earlier. Kraft was the contributor finalist and Belichick was the coach, with Roger Craig, Ken Anderson and L.C. Greenwood the players.
The 50 voters each pick three of the five finalists, and between one to three make it if they get at least 40 votes. If no candidate gets 40 votes, the top vote-getter will be elected. A new rule also made coaches eligible one year after retiring instead of five. Between one and three of those finalists will be inducted into the Hall along with between three and five modern era players from a group of 15 finalists.
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“What matters to me is we win Sunday,” Kraft said during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” ahead of the Patriots’ appearance in Sunday’s Super Bowl. “That’s a function of how the team we’re invested in and organize [is judged].”
ESPN reported last week that Belichick fell short of the 40 votes needed for induction this year, setting off a torrent of criticism over the longtime coach’s exclusion and the Hall of Fame’s voting process. Kraft said in a statement last week that Belichick “is the greatest coach of all time and he unequivocally deserves to be a unanimous first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.”
Kraft’s exclusion should end the speculation that voters’ advocacy for Kraft was what kept Belichick out. It’s also possible, in the opinion of some league sources, that the voting process contributes to canceling out support that any particular candidate might have gotten.
“Whatever perceptions may exist about any personal differences between Bill and me, I strongly believe Bill Belichick’s record and body of work speak for themselves,” Kraft said in his statement last Wednesday.
“As head coach of the New England Patriots for more than two decades, he set the standard for on-field excellence, preparation, and sustained success in the free agency and salary cap era of the National Football League. He is the greatest coach of all time and he unequivocally deserves to be a unanimous first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell echoed those sentiments Monday night and added that he thinks Kraft ultimately will also be a Hall of Famer.
“Bill Belichick’s record goes without saying, same with the Patriots and Robert Kraft, who is also a candidate,” Goodell said. “They are spectacular. They have contributed so much to this game, and I believe they will be Hall of Famers.”
Thus, in a year in which the Patriots surprised many and reached Super Bowl LX, neither of the two closely linked men who helped lead New England to six Super Bowl titles will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year.
“I would just say that’s unfortunate,” Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said Tuesday. “In my experiences with Robert, he’s more than deserving. He’ll be in the Hall of Fame. I’m not in charge of deciding when that happens.”
The Patriots are tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl titles of any franchise; a win in Super Bowl LX would leave the Patriots in sole possession of the most Super Bowl wins, and Kraft has been the principal owner for all.
Before Kraft purchased the franchise in 1994, the Patriots had won 225 games; since then, the Patriots have won 374, including Super Bowl XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLIX, LI and LIII.
Belichick was hired by Kraft in 2000 and led the franchise to six Super Bowl wins and three other appearances in the title game during an 18-year span from 2001 to ’18. Belichick’s 333 wins in the regular season and playoffs with New England and Cleveland are the second most to Don Shula’s 347.
The Patriots’ 10 Super Bowl appearances since Kraft bought the team are the most for any owner in NFL history. New England went to the Super Bowl in Kraft’s third season under coach Bill Parcells, and then nine more times with Belichick.
Kraft has been a member on several NFL ownership committees and also played a key role in resolving the 2011 lockout.
Kraft first was nominated for the Hall of Fame Class of 2013, making him eligible in each of the past 14 years. He was one of nine semifinalists last year but did not advance to the final round, being beaten out by Ralph Hay, one of the NFL’s founding members.
This is the first year where Kraft advanced to become a finalist, albeit in the contributor category, but he still was denied entry into the Hall of Fame that includes NFL owners such as Jerry Jones, Pat Bowlen, Eddie DeBartolo Jr., Ralph Wilson and Dan Rooney.
Voting on the senior finalists is conducted separately from the modern-era voting, which included four players this year — Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Frank Gore and Jason Witten — in their first year of eligibility.
ESPN’s Mike Reiss and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
