Does the Hall of Fame Nominate individuals?
The Hall of Fame receives nominations but does not make them. Any person, including the 50 elite members of the Selection Committee, may nominate any eligible players, coaches or contributors.
What Happens After Someone is Nominated as a Modern-Era Player?
A nomination is NOT a vote for election. The Hall of Fame’s Selection Process includes multiple steps in which the nominees are scrutinized. The Hall facilitates the procedure of three successive reviews of increasing scrutiny with the 50-person Selection Committee. The first is a vote to reduce the long list of Modern-Era Player Nominees (typically around 120) to 25 Semifinalists, followed by a later vote to reduce to 15 Finalists. At the annual meeting shortly before the Super Bowl, the Finalists are scrutinized even further by the Selectors, who after a thorough discussion of each Finalist, reduce the list from 15 to 10 and then 10 to 7. At that point, Selectors vote for five of the remaining seven Finalists. Any Finalist who receives a minimum vote of 80% is elected.
Who Selects New Hall of Fame Members?
The Pro Football Hall of Fame's 50-person Selection Committee is charged with the vital task of continuing to ensure that new enshrinees are the finest the game has produced. [Pro Football Hall of Fame's Selection Process/List of Selection Committee members]
The Committee consists of one media representative from each pro football city — with two from New York and two from Los Angeles, as those cities each have two teams in the National Football League. There are 17 at-large Selectors, who are active members of the media or persons intricately involved in professional football, and one representative of the Pro Football Writers of America. All appointments are open-ended and approved annually by a majority vote of the Hall of Fame's Board of Directors.
The Selection Committee meets annually shortly before the Super Bowl to elect new members of the Hall of Fame. There is no set number of new enshrinees, but the Committee’s current ground rules do stipulate that between four and eight new members will be selected each year. Every candidate is thoroughly reviewed and must receive approval from at least 80% of the full Committee to be elected.
How Are New Enshrinees Selected?
Any fan may nominate any Player, Coach or Contributor who has been connected with pro football simply by writing to the Pro Football Hall of Fame at 2121 George Halas Drive NW, Canton, OH 44708. The only restrictions are that a player must have been retired at least five years before he can be considered, and a coach retired from pro football for one season. There is no mandatory retirement period for a contributor before he/she may be considered. Every nomination of an eligible candidate received will be processed and forwarded to the Hall of Fame’s Selection Committee.
Each year, the Selection Committee will be polled three times before the Final List of Modern-Era Player Nominees is determined. That Initial Preliminary List of nominations is compiled and sent to the Hall of Fame’s Selection Committee by June 1. The list is provided so that the Selectors can study the nominees and then request the addition of any other candidates that may have been overlooked. Included on this list are first-time eligible candidates who have strong enough credentials to give them even a remote chance of eventual Hall of Fame election. Also included are all other eligible candidates nominated by any person. Additionally, those Modern-Era Player nominees from the previous year’s final preliminary list who received at least four votes in the balloting to determine the Modern-Era Player Finalists automatically are included on this preliminary list.
The Second Preliminary List is sent to the Selectors during the month of July and includes all the nominees named on the initial list plus any additional nominations received from any source since the first list was compiled.
The Final Preliminary List of eligible candidates is sent to the Selection Committee during the month of August. From the Final Preliminary List, a Modern-Era Players Screening Committee is asked to vote for 50 Modern-Era Players to continue in the process. (And ties for 50th spot also advances.).
The list of 50 Modern-Era Players plus all ties (if any) for the 50th position shall be distributed to the Selection Committee during the month of October for the purpose of the selection of 25 Semifinalists. That vote is taken and announced in November. A subsequent vote in December determines the 15 Modern-Era Players who are Finalists for that class. The 16th through 20th Finalists are the recommended candidates of the Coach (1), Contributor (1) and Seniors (3) Blue-Ribbon Committees.
In advance of the Hall of Fame Selection Meeting, the Selectors are provided detailed biographies on each of the Finalists. At the annual meeting, each Finalist is thoroughly discussed by the committee before a series of reduction votes are taken. First, the Coach, Contributor and Senior Finalists are discussed as a bloack and voted on for election. From the pool of five, Selectors may vote for 3. Those Finalists who receive 80% affirmative vote are elected. Next, there is a vote that reduces the Modern-Era Player Finalists list from 15 to 10. Following that, a vote is taken to reduce the list from 10 to 7 names. Selectors then vote for 5 of the remaining 7 Modern-Era Player Finalists; those who receive 80% of the votes are elected to the Hall of Fame.
All ballots are collected and counted by the accounting firm Ernst & Young. No vote totals are announced – only the winners of the various reduction ballots are revealed to the Selectors and the Hall’s representatives.
How are Coach, Contributor and Senior Candidates Chosen?
To assure that older players, whose active careers have been completed at least 25 years, as well as coaches, who have not coached in at least one full season, and those individuals who contributed to the game in ways other than playing and coaching, will be considered along with the Modern-Era Players candidates, a Coach, a Contributor and a Seniors committee have been established. Each of these committees is made up of 9 members, mainly (but not exclusively) from the full Selection Committee.
Like the full Committee, the members of the Coach, Contributor and Seniors committees are provided a preliminary list of eligible nominees. The lists, which are compiled and emailed to the Selectors, includes carry-over nominations from the previous year, first-time eligible candidates and nominations from any outside source. Reduction votes ultimately cut the respective lists to 9 individuals each for consideration in a presentation meeting.
The Seniors Committee follows the same procedures and timeline as the Coach and Contributor Committee, but it may recommend up to 3 candidates for election to the Hall each year.
In advance of these committee meetings, each Selector is provided with detailed biographical information on the candidates.
Is a New Hall of Fame Member Enshrined as a Member of a Team?
Obviously, teams take great pride in the accomplishments of individuals who have been a part of their organization. Often, individual teams and even the Hall of Fame will list enshrinees according to the team or teams on which they spent a significant period of time. An enshrinee, however, is not asked to “declare,” nor does the Hall of Fame “choose” a team under which a new member is enshrined. When elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, an individual is recognized for accomplishments as a Player, Coach or Contributor.