Patriots have “high-class problem” and don’t know where to put Super Bowl LI banner

The New England Patriots have the best problem in the world. They don’t have space to raise their Super Bowl LI banner, as noted by ESPN’s Mike Reiss.

“The thought struck me upon leaving the stadium one day last week, looking up at the south end zone, and seeing the four Super Bowl banners hanging,” Reiss writes. “There's no space for the fifth Super Bowl LI banner in that area.”

Here’s an image of that end zone, which shows the Patriots problem.

Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images

New England has space for two banners per column. There are two columns. That means there is space for four banners. The Patriots have won five Super Bowls. Five minus four is one.

According to my Advanced Analytics the Patriots need to find space to add their fifth banner.

“This is the definition of what owner Robert Kraft calls a ‘high-class problem’ to have,” Reiss continues. “When this was mentioned, it was relayed that the club is considering design plans on how to proceed with the fifth Super Bowl banner.”

This means that the team doesn’t have a determined plan on what to do with the fifth and are in the process of figuring out this problem. Reiss also learned that the team made “significant renovations” to celebrate the team’s Super Bowl XLIX victory just two years ago, but now they’re already obsolete.

The Patriots used to just hang the banners by the walkways, along with the 16-0 Regular Season banner from 2007. The Patriots dropped the 16-0 banner when they raised the Super Bowl XLIX championship banner, but these walkways remain a viable place for new banners.

Perhaps the team could be interested in moving the early-dynasty banners back to the walkways where they previously reigned, and just have one banner per column in the end zone, representing the latest two championships. That’d be my easy solution.

Alternatively, they could always lend the banner to the Colts. They hang any banner they can from their rafters.