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| (From left) Emmitt Smith, Dick LeBeau, Russ Grimm, John Randle, Rickey Jackson, Jerry Rice and Floyd Little were inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010. The new class will have their traditional late-summer day in the sun in Canton, but the NFL's ongoing lockout could remove the Hall of Fame Game from Fawcett Stadium. |
The Class of 2011 induction will take place on the night of Aug. 6 inside Fawcett Stadium no matter what federal judges say and in spite of the NFL's concerted efforts to destroy itself.
But the Hall of Fame Game, which annually has capped off "pro football's greatest weekend" and has figuratively kicked off the coming NFL season every year but one since 1962, is in danger of not happening.
Although Hall of Fame officials are optimistically hoping the game is played, the game is perilously close to becoming the first major victim of the NFL labor war. The Hall of Fame Game, this year pitting the Chicago Bears and St. Louis Rams, is scheduled for Aug. 7. Hall officials have everything in place to stage the game at a moment's notice. The problem is that a game can't be played without the competing teams preparing with some semblance of a training camp.
Last year's participants opened training camp 11 and 15 days prior to the game. Averaging that to 13 days lead time, the drop-dead deadline for the Hall of Fame Game to be played might be July 25. If the Bears and Rams aren't back to work by then, the game probably would be canceled.
You might think a lot can be accomplished in 65 days for the NFL to save itself from implosion. But the owners and players essentially gave up control of their $9 billion sport on March 12 when players decertified their union and filed an antitrust lawsuit and the owners imposed a league-wide lockout.
Now the season is in the hands of $500-an-hour lawyers and federal judges. The upcoming timetable doesn't bode well for a resolution by July 25.
On June 3, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals will begin hearing arguments to permanently overturn federal district Judge Susan Nelson's pro-players ruling to lift the lockout. The three-judge panel on the appellate court already has sided with the owners to stay (or delay) Nelson's ruling.
So if the panel plays true to form, it will side with the owners and re-institute the lockout indefinitely. The owners then could keep players locked out and business shut down as a means of exerting leverage in future bargaining talks.
Even if the players are awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in their victorious TV "lockout insurance" lawsuit, which will be known sometime this month, the owners will appeal and block the actual payout -- possibly for years. That would thwart the players' leverage.
Unless a lot of people come to their senses fast, July 25 will come and go without the Bears and Rams opening training camp. While the NFL has drawn up contingency plans for a late start to the regular season -- which may involve moving the Super Bowl back one week to Feb. 12, 2012 -- there is no contingency for moving the Hall of Fame Game.
"Moving the game would not be an option," said Joe Horrigan, the Hall's vice president of communications.
Horrigan emphasized that the game "is just one event" of a packed weekend of activities that makes Canton the center of the NFL universe every summer. He said ticket sales for the game, and special ticket packages for the entire weekend, have lagged because of the uncertainty over the game. Horrigan cautioned that out-of-town visitors should make arrangements for the weekend as usual because the price of game tickets will be refunded if the game is canceled.
"Our concern is that out-of-town visitors are waiting for clarity on the game," he said. "The fear is that clarity may come too late for them to make travel plans."
The annual game preceded the opening of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Museum. It was first played in 1962; the museum opened a year later. There was no game in 1966 because the preseason schedule was not set in time that year.
But in every year since, beginning in 1967, the Hall of Fame Game has signaled the start of the new season. First it was held on Sunday afternoon, then it was moved to immediately follow the enshrinement ceremonies on Saturday afternoon.
In 1999, the game was moved to Monday night to give the expansion rebirth of the Browns maximum network television exposure. In 2006, the game was moved to Sunday night as part of the NBC game package.
Despite the insignificance of the game's outcome and that few starters play beyond a series or two, the Sunday night kickoff has been a ratings bonanza -- for both the Hall of Fame and the NFL, Horrigan said.
"The key to us always has been and always will be the induction ceremonies," Horrigan said. "The game has been a finishing touch to a wonderful weekend."
Canceling the game won't ruin the Hall of Fame Weekend. But it certainly would sound a foreboding alarm for the 2011 NFL season and its fans.
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