NFL Hall of Fame Leans on Browns for ‘Super Bowl Week’ Boost
With the Cleveland Browns taking the field in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game and the team’s beloved left tackle Joe Thomas getting inducted into football heaven a few days later, a couple hundred thousand fans are expected to descend on the Hall of Fame Village in Canton, Ohio, this week.
The brain trust behind the village’s parent company expects the kickoff festivities for the NFL’s 104th season to provide a wave of momentum following several down years. After the Browns and New York Jets clash Thursday at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, the celebration continues into the weekend, with nine players entering the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.
More from Sportico.com
Titans CMO Gil Beverly Relieved of Duties in Exec Restructuring
Sports Leagues Only Partially Monetize Highlights. That May Soon Change
CBS' New NFL Rights Deal Clears the Way for Slimy SpongeBob Super Bowl
“It’s Super Bowl week,” Hall of Fame Resort and Entertainment Co. CEO and president Michael Crawford said in a video interview. Crawford, a former senior vice president at The Walt Disney Co., describes this as a “baseline” week for the village’s renamed parent company (HOFV), which went public via a SPAC merger with Gordon Pointe Acquisition in 2020. New assets and experiences added at the $500 million-campus since then are being seen widespread for the first time this week. The week will be used as a starting point for future year-to-year comparisons as HOFV begins to find its footing post-pandemic.
“We had to make some difficult decisions during one of the most difficult times a company could face if they were stable, let alone a company that just went public,” Crawford said.
Hall of Fame Resort and Entertainment, which operates the multi-use sports destination centered around the Pro Football Hall of Fame, absorbed massive losses during the pandemic because of the lack of foot traffic and a variety of supply chain issues. The company nearly had its stock delisted, a fate that’s hard to avoid once it’s in the air. But a reverse stock split and determination helped HOFV stay on the market and the company has since built a pathway toward stabilization. The leadership hopes to shrink shareholder losses, which reached $19 million in the first quarter, and achieve net profitability.
(HOFV will post its second quarter results next week.)
“We’re playing the long game here,” Crawford added. “We’re not playing the game from quarter to quarter. Yes, we need to continue to show improvement, and we are … but we’re starting to get out of the mode of what do we do to protect ourselves and into the mode of growth and development.”
Enshrinement week presents a great exposure opportunity since HOFV’s brand and slate of offerings will be front and center for visiting members of the NFL community and fans to witness. The new assets and amenities include Don Shula’s American Kitchen and Donald Driver’s Driven Elite Performance, a wellness and sports training facility. The week also provides a pivotal revenue opportunity, with dollars coming from parking, concessions, restaurants and rides.
HOFV leaders hope this will offer a model to build from as they pursue a football-themed water park and a Hilton hotel next year, which are expected to be key revenue drivers. While Hall of Fame week is the crown jewel event on campus, HOFV hopes to continue to populate the calendar with concerts, sporting activities and other events, so it won’t be as reliant financially on the annual enshrinement.
Tom Benson HOF Stadium served as the home field for two USFL teams (the Pittsburgh Maulers and New Jersey Generals) this past season and hosted that league’s championship game. The company inked an agreement with the Fox-owned spring football league to do the same next year.
Fox’s relationship with the village goes beyond just the USFL. A relatively new media arm, HOFV Media, is leveraging the Hall’s intellectual property to drive distribution deals. The media spin-off has production deals with Gray Television and ReachTV, and last year teamed with Fox Sports and NFL Films to produce The Perfect 10, a documentary centered on Heisman Trophy-winning Hall of Famers. The on-screen success provides greater synergy between verticals by potentially adding value for new and existing sponsors.
HOFV’s public launch was undermined by the pandemic, forcing the company to make short-term sacrifices, but the vision never wavered. Now, the combination of new assets, programming and exposure, with over 17 nationally televised events this year, is making up for lost time.
“We’re a company that has a very long runway ahead,” Crawford added. “If you look at what we did in a really hard and unimaginable environment, think about what we can do with a little wind in our backs.”
Best of Sportico.com
