Patriots owner Bob Kraft auctioning Super Bowl ring for coronavirus relief charity
New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft is putting up his Super Bowl LI championship ring for charity.
The ring is being auctioned to benefit the All In Challenge, which is raising money for those in need and facing food insecurity amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The winner of the auction will also get a visit with Kraft at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., and a flight on the team’s plane if the winner isn’t within driving distance.
Kraft said he accepted the All In Challenge from Michael Rubin, the founder and executive chairman of Fanatics, who created the fundraiser that has raised over $38 million as of Monday, according to its website.
“What could I do that would be special? I’ve been thinking about it for weeks,” Kraft said in a video posted on social media on Sunday. “I finally thought about our Super Bowl experience in Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons … We were down 28-3 … and had 99.6% chance to lose. And we came back, and we won.
“And I thought about what’s going on at this time and wanted to give something of extreme value in support of our health care workers. So I thought it would be good to give this ring, our fifth Super Bowl win … because it showed how we came back.”
Patriots owner Robert Kraft is going all in by offering up his Super Bowl LI ring for the #ALLINCHALLENGE
To participate: https://t.co/tbHpbxTePN pic.twitter.com/IAP4NDxBaJ
— ESPN (@espn) May 10, 2020
There are 20 bids as of Monday with a top bid of $500,000. Many other sports and entertainment figures are contributing to the challenge.
Last month, Kraft and the Patriots helped get more than 1.2 million N95 masks delivered to Massachusetts and New York hospitals, with the team plane sent to China to acquire them.
Frank Carnevale is the TribLive multimedia editor. He started at the Trib in 2016 and has been part of several news organizations, including the Providence Journal and Orlando Sentinel. He can be reached at fcarnevale@triblive.com.
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