The fate of the Pro Football HOF Game, scheduled for Aug. 7 in Canton, Ohio, depends on the NFL CBA negotiations "being resolved immediately," allowing the Bears and Rams to report to training camp next week, according to Tony Grossi of the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER. Pro Football HOF VP/Communications & Exhibits Joe Horrigan yesterday said, “We’re sitting here with our fingers crossed.” Horrigan added that the HOF is prepared to stage the game “practically at a moment’s notice.” NFL Exec VP/Labor & General Counsel Jeff Pash yesterday indicated that “saving the Hall of Fame Game was still possible.” Pash: “It’s getting tight. It’s getting pretty tight. It would be pretty challenging, so that is one of the things we’ll have to focus on.” Despite league denials of a report that the game had been cancelled, HOF officials as of yesterday “had not been assured that the game was saved.” Horrigan said, “I don’t know if anybody does (know if the game is still on). That’s kind of the response I get when I inquire.” Horrigan added that cancelling the game “would be felt in four ways.” He said, “Our ticket sales are substantial income for us. So we would have a financial loss without the game. We also do a lot of retail sales around the game as well. That too would be impacted.” Horrigan said that a “popular-selling ticket package to the Hall’s events, which includes tickets to the game, has stalled because of the uncertainty.” As a result, attendance “at some of the other events would suffer from a cancellation.” Horrigan also said that the loss of “prime-time exposure on NBC, which televises the Sunday game, would impact the Hall of Fame significantly” (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 7/21). In L.A., Sam Farmer notes a new CBA “must be reached in the coming few days for any realistic chance” to play the game as scheduled (L.A. TIMES, 7/21).
SAFETY FIRST: ESPN CHICAGO’s Michael Wright reported several Bears players “have expressed concern publicly and privately about potential injuries should the game be played as scheduled because of the lack of a team-supervised offseason conditioning program, not to mention the small window of prep time likely to be allotted” (ESPNCHICAGO.com, 7/20). ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert wrote, “It would be cool for the Bears to play in that game a day after defensive end Richard Dent’s enshrinement ceremony. But the logistics just don’t seem worth the trouble” (ESPN.com, 7/20).
WORRYWARTS: In Chicago, Ed Sherman writes, “I’m not exactly sure why people are clamoring for the” HOF game to be cancelled. Sherman: “This game is beyond meaningless. With five preseason games instead of four, if the starters even play one series, that would be a lot.” The argument “is being made that the players won’t be in good enough football shape to play a full contact game.” But Sherman writes, “Don’t the Bears hold a team scrimmage shortly after the beginning of camp? Isn’t the Hall of Fame Game a glorified scrimmage?” (CHICAGOBUSINESS.com, 7/21).
