Brady Celebration: Patriots 'Goodbye'
The legend of Tom Brady might live forever not just in New England, but all around football. His career has left at least two generations of Patriots fans with lifetime memories and stories. But when Brady left Foxboro to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he left his six Super Bowl victories, nine conference championships, and 16 division titles in 20 seasons there.
And now, seven months after retiring from the league for a second time, and three years after leaving New England, fans finally have an opportunity to say goodbye. At a ribbon-cutting event debuting a "new" Gillette Stadium on Thursday, Kraft said the Patriots wanted to give Brady a proper farewell.
“I talked to him recently. He’s really excited and I’m excited,” Kraft told reporters. “Our fans never really got a chance to say goodbye in a proper way, and we’re going to do something special and unique with him. We were privileged to have the greatest player in the history of the game. ... I think it’s kind of cool to say thank you to him.”
Brady recently talked about the celebration on his "Let's Go Podcast" with Jim Gray.
“A lot of gratitude,” Brady said. “I had two decades of incredible life-changing, altering experiences. I have so many memories from my time there. Memories with people there. I’m creating a new memory with people there. To go back to that stadium and bring my kids and my family in a different way. I’ve not been to that stadium in this way ever. I went there as a player. I went there once as a competitor. And now I’m going to go there really as a fan and then I’m going to be there in the future as a broadcaster.”
The celebration of Brady's career has affected ticket prices to the game as one might expect. Tickets for the opening game against the Eagles are averaging $702 per SI Tickets. If you're one of the many who won't be in attendance, the team said the event will be streamed live on Patriots.com and the team's official social media pages.
