Displaying items by tag: David Baker

President and CEO of the Pro Football Hall of Fame David Baker joined the Sam and Brad Show to talk about Hall of Fame Week in Canton, Ohio this week.

He also discussed not only the enshrinees this year, but also the future plans for the Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Village.

The curtain has been lifted on the 2017 NFL campaign and for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a sparkling new stadium was dedicated to kick off the season.

Pro Football Hall of Fame President and CEO David Baker said Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium is truly a "game changer" not only for the Hall, but for the city of Canton.

"This is the finest small-venue NFLstadium in the world," Baker said. 

 The locker rooms each hold 105 people and the Club area holds 1,000 people. The press box is a new feature as well with great view lines of the playing field.

The 23,000 seat facility was dedicated Thursday morning and featured a statue of Saints owner Tom Benson, who contributed $11 million to the stadium project that now bears his name.

Baker was extremely appreciative of Benson's contribution to keeping football thriving in the Hall of Fame City.

"He felt that this was where the game of professional football began, and he thinks it should live forever in Canton," Baker explained.

Hall of Fame President David Baker said they are actively preparing for the NFL's 100th anniversary by building various amenites for the Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Village.

 The venue will host not only football at the high school, collegiate and pro level, but concerts, and other entertainment options for as Baker puts it, " the next 100 years.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame extending out it's refund offer from the scrapped Hall of Fame game -- and now it includes hotel fees based on review. The updated policy significantly sweetens the payoff for fans stiffed when the game was canceled because of concerns over the safety of players on the field.

In addition to face value reimbursement of tickets, all fees, pre-paid parking and reservation fees and one night of hotel are now added subject to "review, approval and verification."

Reimbursed fans will also get souvenir goodies and first place in line for a future Hall of Fame game over the next five years.

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(Pro Football Hall of Fame) Pro Football Hall of Fame President David Baker announced today that the Board of Trustees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit institution, approved a special reimbursement plan for all ticketholders to the 2016 Hall of Fame Game. Notwithstanding the language on the tickets, ticketholders will be fully refunded the face-value of their ticket. Additionally, the Hall of Fame will refund all processing, shipping and handling fees, pre-paid parking purchased through the Hall of Fame, pre-sale reservation fees, and one night of hotel accommodations to eligible fans, subject to appropriate review, approval, and verification.

Baker stated:

"The Hall of Fame game is our event. We sincerely regret disappointing fans but we believe that cancelling the game was the right thing to do. Respect for players and their safety must always come first, especially by the Hall of Fame. We endeavored to handle, to the best of our ability, these difficult circumstances in the right way. Our focus was on the safety of the players and the best and safest way to communicate the decision to fans, teams, league and the media representatives.

We take full responsibility for what occurred at the game. We are doing what is right for our fans. We will learn from this experience so something like this never happens again."

In addition to the increased reimbursements, the Hall of Fame announced it will also provide to ticketholders:

- four admission tickets to the museum to be used once any time during the next five years;

- a commemorative photo of the Hall of Fame Class of 2016 along with their fellow Hall of Fame members taken on the front steps of the museum;

- a copy of the 2016-17 Pro Football Hall of Fame Yearbook;

- the right, before the general public, to purchase a ticket for a future Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony or Pro Football Hall of Fame Game for one year in any of the next five years;

and

- a 30 percent discount for the purchase of any merchandise from the museum's online store.

Full information and details about how to take advantage of the reimbursement plan will be forthcoming and will be shared via the Hall's website at www.profootballhof.com/GameRefund or by phone at 844-4HOFTIX (844-446-3849).

If you were looking to kick off the NFL season last night, you weren't going to find in Canton. The NFL was forced to cancel Sunday night's Hall of Fame game due to poor field conditions.

The main problem was reportedly the wrong type of paint used to paint logos on the field; it quickly became more like a glob of tar. Players also noted parts of the field were "like cement" and didn't have the proper shock-absorbing layer of rubber chips to help cushion hits to the ground, a must for tackle football on artificial turf.

Fans immediately began lining up at customer service tents for refunds.

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(National Football League) The official return of pro football will have to wait another four days. The NFL canceled Sunday night's Hall of Fame game because of poor field conditions. The Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts are headed back home.

"I was notified at about 5:30 that there was a problem at midfield and in the end zones with some of the painting that it was kind of congealing and rubberized, which meant players might slip on it," Pro Football Hall of Fame president David Baker (seen at left, after making the cancellation announcement)  told NFL Media's Steve Wyche. "The folks with the field tried to remediate that by dropping some other pellets but after talking to the coaches and staff for both the Packers and the Colts, there was a concern they might be able to remediate it but they would have to do something underneath the surface.

"We think we could make it playable, that it might be playable now but if there is any concern, anything in the minds of players we want to err on the side of player safety. This is the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You've heard me many, many times talk about our values of commitment, integrity, courage, respect, and excellence. If we don't have that integrity to respect our players and respect their safety, then we shouldn't be doing this job. It was a difficult decision to make. ... But in some respects, it was an easy, ethical decision.

"When the field was put down -- this was a brand-new field that had only been used one year at the Superdome in New Orleans -- when it came here, it passed the safety tests. This morning when the cover was taken off, it passed the safety tests then. But I think the concerns were really about the painting and the rubberized surface."

The NFL and NFLPA issued the following statement:

"Due to safety concerns with the condition of the playing surface in Canton, tonight's game between the Indianapolis Colts and Green Bay Packers has been cancelled. We are very disappointed for our fans, but player safety is our primary concern, and as a result, we could not play an NFL game on this field tonight."

The embarrassing news casts a pall on an otherwise great weekend. Sunday's game wasn't going to be much of a regular season preview, although it provides a chance for end-of-the-roster plays to impress coaches and make the team. Undrafted free agent Joe Callahan was expected to start at quarterback for the Packers. Starters usually play a series or two at most in the first preseason game.

"It sucks, but the conditions of the field weren't safe for any player on either roster," veteran Colts linebacker D'Qwell Jackson told NFL Media columnist Michael Silver.

More than anything, this is a huge letdown for the crowd in Ohio. This weekend in Canton proved to be a pilgrimage for Packers fans and now it has been cut short.