The groundbreaking for the College Football HOF in Atlanta is now “scheduled for February 2012 and the opening for fall 2013,” after both dates were "pushed back from the targets set when the hall's relocation to Atlanta was announced in September 2009," according to Tim Tucker of the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. Atlanta Hall Management President & CEO Gary Stokan, whose company is licensed by the National Football Foundation to build and eventually operate the facility, said that the reasons for the delay were a “shift in preferred sites and a swelling of the project from a 50,000-square-foot, $50-million facility to a 75,000-square-foot, $82-million facility.” Raising money “remains a top priority," and two members of Stokan's staff recently “were in Michigan, pitching a sponsorship deal to Ford Motor Co.” Stokan said that $33M “in commitments have been secured,” including $15M in Georgia state bonds, $6M from Chick-fil-A, $5M from the Chick-fil-A Bowl and $2.5M from Coca-Cola. Stokan said that another $15M “needs to be raised before ground-breaking.” He said that the “design-development phase is ‘100 percent complete’ with the architects and will be complete with the exhibit designers in the next month.” Stokan said of the HOF, "I've termed the phrase 'edutainseum.' It's going to be highly educational, highly entertaining and then a museum” (AJC.com, 6/13).
