MORE PATS LAYOFFS COMING FRIDAY?

An industry source tells us that the Patriots could be joining the new “it’s a bad economy, so let’s trim some fat” trend on Friday by laying off some employees. We’re told that at least one employee working for the team’s in-house publications has been advised that Friday will be his last day; it’s possible that there will be others. Of course, it won’t be the first round of layoffs in Foxborough. In November 2008, the Patriots quietly laid off 60 employees. Though it was announced as a reduction of five percent of the Gillette Stadium work force, we’re told that the number actually was closer to 20 percent. Part of the problem, we’re told, is the unexpected underperformance of Patriot Place, the small city that the franchise built around the stadium that wasn’t built near one. "[I]t’s basically an outdoor mall,” said the source. “In New England. Where for the past week it has barely cracked 25 degrees. And there’s more than a foot of snow on the ground. . . . I guess they could not have forseen the financial issues that were coming when they started the project, but I still think there’s something fundamentally flawed about building an outdoor mall in such a cold climate.” UPDATE: We contacted the Patriots on Friday, and we were told that there would be no further layoffs at this time.