Patriots Have Lounge with PlayStation, Billiards, Ping Pong and More at Training Camp

It's a new era in Foxborough.

The New England Patriots are having their first training camp since 2000 without Bill Belichick and new head coach Jerod Mayo has made some changes to the setup.

Mike Reiss of ESPN reported that a notable change is a player lounge that "includes billiards, PlayStation and a pingpong table, among other things."

"I think it's important to create those spaces," Mayo told Reiss. "One thing I've noticed over the past, let's say five years, is a lot of times when guys get a break they just go to their locker and get on their phone; they're scrolling through social media and there's really no interaction. That is also a time where they build camaraderie."

The Patriots had a culture that was enviable across the league for most of the 21st Century. The 24-year-run with Belichick as head coach saw the Patriots reach 13 AFC Championships and nine Super Bowls, winning six of them. The Patriots also qualified for the postseason 20 times, with the majority of the appearances coming with Tom Brady at quarterback.

The tides turned a bit after Brady left after the 2019 season, as the Patriots missed the playoffs in three of the next four seasons. The bottom fell out in 2023 when the team went 4-13 and would part ways with Belichick following the season.

New England hopes Mayo, who played under Belichick with the Patriots for eight seasons, can steer the team into another successful era. While he will likely try to carry over some of the culture from the previous regime, early signs like the player lounge show that "The Patriot Way" has a new meaning.