WHEN INDIANAPOLIS COLTS CENTER JEFF SATURDAY hugged Patriots owner Robert Kraft (above), the pair provided an unexpected yet perfect image of National Football League labor peace after a 136-day lockout. Saturday credited Kraft with helping “save football.” The embrace broadcast around the sports world also honored the sacrifices Kraft made, negotiating a deal while his wife, Myra, was dying of cancer. The big hug and the final deal came on July 25, 2011, five days after her death. “To think that I could bond with the guy who’s the center for one of our biggest rivals,” says Kraft, trailing off, the memory making him emotional. “It was a special moment at a very difficult time.”
Kraft, 70, nearly excused himself from the final round of meetings on that fateful day. He was sitting shiva, the weeklong Jewish mourning period. After a large gathering at his house finished morning prayers, he asked his four sons to vote on whether he should attend. With Senator John Kerry and Governor Deval Patrick present, he polled them, too. It was unanimous.
His sons, the senator, and the governor saw NFL labor talks the same way Myra did. It was an arena where Kraft could make a difference. As Myra battled cancer, she encouraged, practically insisted, Kraft leave her bedside for lockout negotiations. She knew millions of fans lived for NFL games and believed her husband could find common ground between players and owners. “She was not objective about me,” says Kraft. “So she maybe thought I had greater skills than maybe I did.” But Myra’s confidence was not misplaced.
“There were times along the road where I know Robert was instrumental in keeping the process constructive and moving forward,” says NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith. Kraft made sure owners and players focused on their shared interests and future relationship. By taking time away from Myra for negotiations, says Smith, whose wife is a breast cancer survivor, Kraft “impressed upon everyone, in a sober way, what our responsibilities were.” The Patriots owner shouldered those responsibilities by listening carefully.
“You can’t solve a problem until you understand what the problem is,” says Kraft. “There were some very difficult, complicated issues, but there was a give and take. I hope the same happens in Washington. The NFL is not Washington, but culturally it is very important that we bridge our differences.” With his proposal in December to build a casino in Foxborough, Kraft again finds himself engaged in complicated issues, facing vocal opposition, and trying to bridge differences.
“The people that I worked with during the lockout knew that I meant business, that I was serious, that I didn’t want to fiddle around with foolishness and waste time,” says Kraft, who still picks up the phone to call Myra and thinks of her 30 times a day. “I didn’t want to be there, to be honest, and left many times when I felt there was foolishness going on. Maybe in a small way that helped to set a tone of what was important.”