NFL Patriot Ticket

While they currently hail generically from New England and play in Foxboro, the first ten years saw fans by an NFL Patriot ticket for a team that hailed from Boston. Yes, the Boston Patriots, as they were first known, joined the American Football League in 1960. In fact, they played in the very first AFL game ever held. Coach Lou Saban led his troops onto the field for a home game against the Denver Broncos on September 9 of that year. Denver won the game, 13-10, and Boston finished with a 5-9 record that season. Their first win came in Week 2 with a 28-24 defeat of the New York Titans. They played in the AFL until 1970. They had mixed results, reaching the playoffs twice and even playing for the AFL Championship once, and in 1967, Patriot fullback Jim Nance was named league MVP after rushing for 1,216 yards.

NFL Patriot Ticket: A New League, A New Name

The first NFL Patriot ticket was sold when the team joined the National Football League as part of the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. They went a league-worst 2-12 during their first season as an NFL team. The following season, the franchise moved to Foxboro and was renamed the New England Patriots in an attempt to generate support outside of the Boston area. It worked. They have been known as the New England Patriots ever since, and in recent seasons, hundreds of thousands of loyal fans have purchased seats to see the team play. They have undoubtedly found a special place in the hearts of sports fans throughout the area, right alongside the Celtics and the Red Sox, and they have enjoyed tremendous success on the field as well. Not bad for a team that once spent 11 years in four different Boston-area venues, don't you think?