Amid news that a dozen NFL teams have cut salaries and mandated furloughs during the lockout, the Patriots confirmed Wednesday there have been no salary reductions, no loss of jobs and no plans for anything of the sort in the future.
Owner Robert Kraft has remained optimistic that there will be a full NFL season in 2011, and the organization has been preparing as such. It's been, perhaps for a lack of a better term, business as usual during the lockout. The Patriots are on schedule with their offseason plans, and they're even getting ready to print their 2011 tickets.
The Patriots are in a good position to avoid paycuts because they have so few staffers who have football-specific jobs, such as coaches and scouts. Nearly everyone else in the organization — from human resources to public relations to food service and security — holds other responsibilities with the Revolution, concerts, high school football and the like.
Therefore, Kraft has kept his staff intact, and the Patriots have avoided similar fates to the Dolphins, Jets, Chiefs and a handful of others.
