Courtesy of Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame has made several significant changes to the bylaws governing its annual selection process, each modification formulated to help ensure that membership in the Hall of Fame remains elite while bringing fresh perspectives and viewpoints to the discussion of candidates.
These revisions received approval from the Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors this month and will go into effect now as the Hall and its independent Selection Committee embark on the process of determining the Class of 2025. There is no set expiration date for any of the changes.
Selection of the Class of 2025 will begin soon when two new Screening Committees separately review the full lists of nominees in the Modern-Era Players and Seniors categories. Each of these 11-person committees can be composed of enshrinees of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, former NFL front office personnel, football historians and media members. None of these 22 individuals also serves on the Selection Committee.
The task of the Modern-Era Players Screening Committee and the Seniors Screening Committee will be to reduce the lengthy lists of nominees to 50 candidates each. Hall of Fame partner Ernst & Young LLP will conduct and ensure the security of the online voting process.
Once the 50 candidates (plus ties, if any) are determined in the Modern-Era Players category, the names will be sent to the full Selection Committee for the next stages of the process. The names of the Seniors candidates remaining (50, plus ties, if any) will be sent to the Seniors Blue-Ribbon Committee.
The Seniors Blue-Ribbon Committee will be composed of nine (9) individuals – seven (7) who also are members of the full Selection Committee and two (2) others who will hold full voting rights for this subcommittee (only). As noted in the revised bylaws, these two non-Selection Committee members can be Hall of Famers, football historians or anyone with expansive football knowledge.
Through a sequence of reduction votes over several weeks, the Seniors Blue-Ribbon Committee will select three (3) Finalists for the Class of 2025.
In addition to the Seniors Blue-Ribbon Committee, the process moving forward will include a Coach Blue-Ribbon Committee and a Contributor Blue-Ribbon Committee, reflecting a split in those two categories that had been combined over the past few election cycles.
Both the Coach Blue-Ribbon Committee and a Contributor Blue-Ribbon Committee will be constituted in the same manner — with seven Selection Committee members plus two others — as the Seniors Blue-Ribbon Committee. Through a sequence of reduction votes over several weeks, the Coach Blue-Ribbon Committee and the Contributor Blue-Ribbon Committee each will select one (1) Finalist for the Class of 2025.
Also, the waiting period for Coach candidates has been reduced from fives seasons out of the game to one season. (No waiting period exists for Contributor candidates.)
Determination of Finalists in the Modern-Era Players category will remain unchanged once the Screening Committee has concluded its work. The full Selection Committee will vote for 25 Semifinalists in November, then 15 Finalists in December.
Prior to the Super Bowl, the Selection Committee will meet to discuss the 20 Finalists for the Class of 2025 – the 15 Modern-Era Players, three Seniors, one Coach and one Contributor.
The Modern-Era Players will be voted on in their own group, with no more than five (5) nor fewer than three (3) to be elected. Approval from 80% of the Selectors is required for election.
The five Finalists from the Seniors, Coach and Contributor categories will be combined into a second group for voting by Selectors. No more than three (3) nor fewer than one (1) may be elected. As with the Modern-Era Players, approval from 80% of the Selectors is required for election.
With the revisions, a new class could be comprised of four to eight individuals, but with the 80% approval threshold, classes are more likely, statistically, to include five or six members.
“The first pillar of the Mission statement at the Pro Football Hall of Fame states we will ‘Honor the Greatest of the Game.’ One important way to do that is through an annual review of the Selection Process and the people involved in it,” President & CEO Jim Porter said.
“Forming two Screening Committees will bring added discussion of candidates, with input from more Hall of Famers,” he said. “And splitting the Coach and Contributor categories allows for a Finalist from each one. What’s most important is continuing to elect great classes of enshrinees, and these moves help ensure that desired outcome.”