“If we were to ever lose, I don’t think we’re going to be able to use facilities as a reason for our loss.”
The Patriots’ new locker room features 92 total lockers. Barry Chin/The Boston Globe
FOXBOROUGH — Mike Vrabel was candid as he discussed the New Balance Athletics Center — the Patriots’ state-of-the-art training facility situated next to Gillette Stadium.
​”You built such a wonderful building and practice facility and athletic performance facility that if we were to ever lose, I don’t think we’re going to be able to use facilities as a reason for our loss,” Vrabel told Patriots owner Robert Kraft on Wednesday. “We spend more time here than we do at our own families, at our own homes, and we’re proud to call this home.”​
While the New Balance Athletics Center has been used by the team since the spring as part of the ramp-up to the 2026 NFL Draft, Wednesday marked the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Patriots’ new football headquarters.
“At 160,000 square feet, the New Balance Athletic Center is the only facility in the NFL with that amount of space dedicated solely to football, and over two times the amount of space the team previously operated out of the stadium,” Kraft noted.
The new facility — located right next to the team’s practice fields behind Gillette Stadium — houses the team’s football offices, meeting rooms, weight room, and other facilities that the team primarily utilizes during the week leading up to kickoff.
While the Patriots will use their normal locker room within Gillette Stadium on game days, most of the team’s work will revolve around the New Balance Athletics Center moving forward.​
As part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, the media was granted a full tour of the facility, which you can watch below:
Some of the highlights of the new facility include a 15,000-square-foot weight room and a 10,500-square-foot virtual reality room, along with a spacious locker room that includes 92 total lockers to accommodate every player during training camp.
​The dining room was designed to resemble a restaurant, rather than a team cafeteria, with several made-to-order food stations available to go along with a buffet line, grab-and-go meals, and customizable shakes.
The two-story weight room includes direct access to the practice fields, a “violence” area complete with punching bags, speed bags, and striking bags, and artificial turf for sled weights.
The adjoining hydrotherapy room features a water treadmill for rehabbing players, along with several cold-plunge pools and hot tubs.
​Next to the locker room is a player’s lounge that includes couches, TVs, a ping-pong table, and two barber chairs for players in need of a new cut.
The upper levels of the facility include coaches’ offices, rooms for each positional group, and several empty rooms left untouched for future modifications and staffing additions as football operations across the league continue to evolve.
One of those evolutions is rooted in the team’s virtual-reality room — which boasts enough artificial turf to span the width of an entire football field.
The room — which is just a stone’s throw away from positional meeting rooms and the team’s 160-chair meeting room — allows players and coaches to run through formations, simulations, and scenarios in game-like settings without needing to step on the field.​
“Our goal was to create a home for our football operation that brings everything together under one roof and gives our players, coaches, and staff the best possible environment to prepare, perform, and succeed,” Kraft said.
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Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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