Published 23:39 IST, December 27th 2019
Patriots rent out private plane to Navy football team for college game in Memphis
Navy Athletic Academy Association (NAAA) revealed that they paid New England Patriots in order to charter their private plane for their college bowl clash.
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Earlier this week, there were reports that New England Patriots had allowed the Navy football team to share their private plane for a college bowl game in Memphis, Tennessee. However, there was an immediate reply to one of those stories on social media from the Navy Athletic Academy Association (NAAA) which stated otherwise. The NAAA revealed that though the Patriots allowed them to use the plane, "the Naval Academy Athletic Association paid for the charter."
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New England Patriots' official Tweet
The Navy Athletic Academy Association (NAAA) confirm they paid to charter Patriots' private plane
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The Navy football team, which consists of midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland, earned their spot to play against the Kansas State Wildcats at the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on December 31. On Tuesday, the Naval Academy Athletic Association said that their team were heading to Memphis on board Patriots' private jet. In a statement, Scott Strasemeier (the Navy’s senior associate athletic director) thanked Patriots owner Robert Kraft by saying that, "The NAAA and the New England Patriots have a longstanding relationship, which certainly did not hurt our ability to work out an agreement with the Patriots. We are extremely grateful for the support and the cooperation we received from Mr Kraft and his staff."
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Navy Football team coach - Ken Niumatalolo - issues thanks to New England Patriots
23:39 IST, December 27th 2019