Robert Kraft Receiving Lifetime Achievement Award From Sports Business Journal
BOSTON (CBS) -- Patriots owner Robert Kraft will be the recipient of this year's Sports Business Journal Lifetime Achievement Award. He will receive the award at a ceremony in New York in May.
"One big appeal of sports ownership is the path it provides to greater influence in the wider business world and culture," SBJ publisher and executive editor Abe Madkour said. "Not only has Robert Kraft built a world-class franchise with Kraft Sports Group, he's 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."
The 80-year-old Kraft has been instrumental in the growth of the NFL -- and the Patriots -- over the past three decades, as he's been credited with helping to secure billions of dollars in TV deals while also playing a key role in helping to end the 2011 lockout. His charitable foundation has also given more than $800 million to various charities over the years, as well.
Other NFL figures who have received the SBJ Lifetime Achievement Award include former commissioner Paul Tagliabue (2012), the late Steelers owner Dan Rooney (2014), and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (2017).