NFL owners approve funding for hall's transformation plan

Immediate Release

CANTON, OHIO – Work will accelerate on the third phase of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s transformation plan following a vote Wednesday by league owners to approve a portion of the funding needed for the project.

Details of the financial commitment were not immediately available Wednesday afternoon.

Artist rendering of new lobby at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (Photo: HOF Communications)

“We are extremely grateful to Commissioner Roger Goodell and the owners of the National Football League for sharing our vision for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and its future,” President & CEO Jim Porter said. “With each expansion of the museum across its rich 63-year history, Hall of Fame leadership has been able to count on support from the league,” Porter noted. The league’s Hall of Fame Committee, composed of seven NFL owners (or their designees), voted unanimously on the measure that the owners league-wide later also approved unanimously. It will allow the Hall to move forward aggressively on the third of the six phases in its “Evolve 2030” modernization plan.

Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, chairs the league’s Hall of Fame Committee. Other members are Gayle Benson, New Orleans Saints; Mark Davis, Las Vegas Raiders; Bryan Glazer, Tampa Bay Buccaneers; JW Johnson, Cleveland Browns; Ed Policy, Green Gay Packers; and Amy Adams Strunk, Tennessee Titans.

Phase III of the project includes an 8,000-square-foot expansion of the museum, including the creation of a grand lobby and the Coach John Madden Broadcast Studio. It will also add interactive exhibits focusing on the league’s first 100 years and its member clubs. The estimated cost of the phase is about $33 million.

Phase I of the project, which has been completed, involved updates to the Nash Family Event and Conference Center. Phase II – construction of the KeyBank Center at the Pro Football Hall of Fame – has progressed on budget ($19 million) and is on schedule to open in early spring.

The KeyBank Center will provide the largest meeting and event space of its kind in the Northeast Ohio region.

Grants, naming rights deals, and Hall of Fame funding have covered the first two phases of the project without the Hall incurring debt.

“The aim of the Hall of Fame is to ensure that any new project builds upon its solid foundation, and the generous contribution from league owners today helps significantly toward that end,” Porter said. “We are proud of our role as stewards of professional football’s history. We take seriously our core mission: to honor the greatest who have played, coached, or contributed; to preserve the history of the game; and to share with future generations the stories that have made NFL football this country’s No. 1 spectator sport.”

The estimated cost of all six phases of the project totals about $102 million. The final three phases involve new or reimagined exhibits inside the museum.