Patriots
A miserable forecast and New England’s 2-9 record prompted many fans to stay home Sunday afternoon.
Just how bad are things at Gillette Stadium these days?
It’s currently cheaper to plant yourself in the seats for a Patriots game than it is to go to the movies or play a few rounds of candlepin.
Whether it be a miserable forecast of steady rain or a lackluster matchup between the 2-9 Patriots and 4-7 Chargers, the demand for tickets in Foxborough plummeted on Sunday afternoon.
As noted by Sophie Weller of A to Z Sports, tickets for Sunday’s Patriots-Chargers game were as low as $5 shortly before kick-off — serving as yet another stark reminder that the days of the Patriots’ standing as the premier draw in both New England and the NFL are long gone.
In a season where little has gone right for the Patriots, it should come as little surprise that many fans likely don’t want to deal with hours of traffic to get to Gillette Stadium — as well as the subsequent deluge of rain.
Any fans hesitant about traversing the traffic on Route 1 were validated by the final score that read on the Gillette Stadium video board — with New England dropping its fifth-straight game by way of a 6-0 defeat against the Chargers.
The sight of a half-empty Gillette Stadium just before New England’s opening drive might say it all as to just how quickly this season has gone off the rails for the Patriots.
Sunday’s bargain-bin ticket prices stand as the latest tough pill to swallow for Robert Kraft and a Patriots franchise that has sunk into irrelevancy during its plummet to the cellar of the AFC standings.
On Thursday, the NFL announced that it flexed the Patriots out of their scheduled Monday Night Football showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs on Dec. 18 — with New England now set to host the defending Super Bowl champions on Sunday, Dec. 17, at 1 p.m.
According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, this is the first time that the NFL has ever flexed out a Monday Night Football game.
This season marks the first time the NFL has allowed games to be flexed in and out of Monday Night Football between Weeks 12 and 17. The deadline to change those scheduled Monday games is 12 days before kickoff.
Sign up for Patriots updates????
Get breaking news and analysis delivered to your inbox during football season.