The New England Patriots just won't go away. Man oh man, they have been around forever!

Well, no they haven't. In fact, the New England Patriots weren't even New England back in the day. And did you know there was a chance you would be cheering for (or hating) the Bay State Patriots?

Confused? Well, lets rewind a bit here.

So you probably know that the Patriots were a part of the old American Football League back before the AFL and the NFL merged. By the way, did you know they were the last franchise the league awarded? Yep, there almost wasn't a Patriots team at all (cue the cheering from all the other NFL fans).

Anyway, a franchise was awarded to Boston and so in 1960 the Boston Patriots were born...and they weren't all that good either (hard to believe, I know). They didn't even have a regular home stadium, bouncing from here to there. Not too promising.

But their fortunes would change when the AFL and the NFL merged in 1970. The team moved to a permanent stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. And since it wasn't technically in Boston, they decided to change their name.

No, no, no....wait! That's not the end of the story.

They decided to change their name to the Bay State Patriots.

Well, for whatever reason, that name was rejected by the powers that be in the NFL.

Hmmm...so now what? On March 22, 1971 the New England Patriots were born. And so they have been ever since.

Wikipedia Contributed To This Article

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