Jon Bon Jovi Speaks On His Close Relationship With Robert Kraft

can you tell us about your friendship with rkk did it start in it started I think it started that day in '96 96 he has a picture of the two of us in on the field that Saturday no one else is in the stadium um in his office that he he hangs and um I still have that t-shirt which happened to believe it or not be Doug floody's under uniform t-shirt you guys used to wear like real just shitty cotton t-shirts yeah that [ __ ] they were just miserable but um anyhow rkk and I met in Earnest there um I opened um Gillette I think I was the first concert there and then um because of Bill and and allowing me to come to practice from the time Gillette was built um you know I slowly but surely befriended him and then we got closer as I bought the arena team so by 2000 Philadelphia Soul three and then 2008 by then I wanted to try to you know save up enough nickels to make a play to get into the big boy league and then uh uh and then after that we just got closer and closer to the point where I look at him like a big brother now or or almost a father figure because he's he's he's with me and my family and I'm with him and his family a lot he's here in this home a lot and are home in Palm Beach a lot um but we love that and I I I love knowing his boys and I knew Mrs craft I knew her rather well and so you know I've I've been very close to him for a long time I really look up to him and from a sports ownership Viewpoint one in one and one was what made that team you know from my perspective and watching others he didn't want to be on the field he knew where to draw the line he didn't want to play call he didn't want to coach he didn't want to be the G he trusted that BB was going to be that that guy and he could be that whatever you want to call him big brother or father to Tommy he could be you know the business voice for Bill if you think about how much how many coaches ran off and wrote books after their first Super Bowl and were doing shaving cream commercials and car commercials and distracted from the team yeah Mr craft if you think about it and look back made sure that bill was taken care of so that he could only rely you know could focus on you guys winning another Super Bowl yep you know and all of those kind of things that made one in one in one the Patriots it really was the patriot without a doubt I I agree with everything you just said there the 111 yeah I mean it it's a party to takes a team to function and you know that's probably one of the greatest teams of all time when you have head coach owner quarterback like and that's what you need to win in this league now would you learn from rkk as an owner when you jumped up into the the owner world not all 32 Kings as I refer to them are all best friends that'll surprise you yeah competitive when I was one of the um owners of a business that they had called onlocation the NFL had and I realized that you know the 32 Kings um they've got big egos you know and and it's not not easy um so you have to okay you play to win but you're playing that all one 132 has got to be looking out for the 32nd 302nd you know you're all one right so that was interesting to me but I love the way um when I would walk through the hallways with him he didn't care if you were the intern he wanted to know your name he he he cared about everybody that was um you know working in the venue he he knew all about that and he and he talked to everybody like you're representing my family and he meant that he said that too he would say that to you you're representing my family but he meant it he me he did you know I mean so there were so many life lessons that I learned from him and I consider him a very worldly um asset um to to mankind if you think about what he's done now with the standup to hate campaign and he was ahead of that well before October 7th um his foundations's work um you know giving Putin a ring and not starting a World War we want to make that a movie by um you know all his adventures and also his stamina his his Lust For Life I think honestly when I'm his age I'm not g to go hang out with Jay-Z and and meek I mean and and and be curious about you know hey Meek tell me about your world tell me about your music tell me about the incarceration tell me about the Streets of Philadelphia tell you know all of that kind of stuff he's very legitimately curious as he is about what's happening with the anti-Semitism and and being Cutting Edge on that whether it's you know being the face of the NFL to make their business better for all of them um I I just admire the hell out of him and I I really am thrilled to call him my friend