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Fawcett Stadium before the start of the
2006 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game is an
annual
National Football League pre-season
exhibition game that is held the weekend of the
Pro Football Hall of Fame's induction ceremonies.
The game is played at
Fawcett Stadium, which is located next door to the
Hall of Fame building in
Canton, Ohio.
The two teams that play in the Pro Football Hall of
Fame Game are selected by the league, which since 1971
has been one AFC team vs. one NFC team. Because this
game and the Hall of Fame's induction ceremonies are
scheduled on the weekend before the league's regular
four-week pre-season begins, both teams end up playing
five pre-season games instead of the normal four.
Television
From
1999-2005,
the game was held on Monday night, televised as part of
ABC's
Monday Night Football package. It had previously
been held typically on Saturday afternoons. Starting in
2006, it was moved to Sunday night, coinciding with
the new
NBC Sunday Night Football television package.
The 2007 game was telecast on
NFL Network as NBC was intending to televise the
China Bowl game in
Beijing, China. The
Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the
New Orleans Saints 20-7 in the 2007 game, giving new
head coach
Mike Tomlin the win in his first game as an NFL head
coach.
A.K.A Induction ceremony
or Enshrinement Ceremony
The induction ceremony is usually held the first full
weekend in August. A community festival is held
throughout the week in Canton leading up to the
induction ceremonies. Also, the
Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, an annual NFL
pre-season
exhibition game, is held the day after the induction
ceremony.
Enshrinees do not go into the Pro Football Hall of
Fame as a member of a certain team. Rather, all of an
inductee's affiliations are listed equally.[3]
While the
Baseball Hall of Fame plaques generally depict each
of their inductees wearing a particular club's cap (with
a few exceptions, such as
Catfish Hunter), the bust sculptures of each Pro
Football Hall of Fame inductee make no reference to any
specific team. In addition to the bust that goes on
permanent display at the Hall of Fame, inductees receive
a distinctive gold jacket and previous inductees nearly
always wear theirs when participating at new inductee
ceremonies.
Previous induction ceremonies were held during the
day (Sunday from 1999-2005, Saturday in 2006), situated
on the steps of the Hall of Fame building. Starting in
2002, the ceremony was moved to
Fawcett Stadium/a>, and, beginning in 2007, held
Saturday night.[2]
