The game is generally held on a Thursday since 2017 and between July 31 and August 6 and is used to mark the opening of theNFL preseason. It is anticipated by fans as the first NFL contest since the prior season'sSuper Bowl, held nearly six months earlier.
The two teams that play in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game are typically selected by the league in advance of the remainder of the preseason schedule. The participants are usually announced around the time that the newHall of Fame members are announced, which coincides withSuper Bowl week. Often, when a particularly notable player will be entering the Hall of Fame that year, a team with which he had been strongly associated may be selected to play in the game to help maximize attendance and publicity of the game itself.
From1971 to2010, the opponents for each game usually included oneAFC team and oneNFC team. In2009, as recognition of the 50th anniversary of theAmerican Football League, the game paired two AFC teams who were part of the"original eight" franchises of the AFL (1960), theTennessee Titans (dressed as their previous incarnation, theHouston Oilers) and theBuffalo Bills, whose owner,Ralph Wilson, was inducted into the Hall that year. An all-NFC matchup was scheduled for2011,[5] but it was canceled by thelockout; the following year, another intra-conference matchup of two NFC teams took its place. From 2011 onward, each team selected to play in the game has had at least one prominent alumnus being inducted into the Hall that year.
Since the Hall of Fame Game and the Hall of Fame induction ceremony are scheduled for the weekend before the normal NFL preseason season starts, both teams end up playing an additional exhibition game compared to the remaining teams in the league (formerly four, three as of 2021).
The Baltimore Ravens, officially established in1996 as a result of the Browns' relocation, did not play in the Hall of Fame Game until2018. With the Ravens' participation, all 32 current NFL teams have at least one appearance.
Prior to theAFL–NFL merger, the Hall of Fame Game was played in August or September, in some cases at the end of the preseason. In 1970, it was moved to the beginning of the preseason. Prior to2001, it was not uncommon for the game to be played in July. Since 2001, when the league permanently moved the start of the season to the weekend afterLabor Day, the game has always been played in early August. In 2002, the Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony was moved from the steps of the museum to the football stadium. This created a tight schedule between the ceremony and the game.
The2011 game was originally scheduled between theSt. Louis Rams and theChicago Bears, but the game was canceled by an ongoinglabor dispute that had disrupted nearly all league activity during the 2011 offseason. The two clubs had set a deadline of July 22 to ratify a resolution in enough time to prepare for the game: the league and players did not ratify the agreement until July 25, forcing cancellation of the game.
The2016 edition, which was scheduled to be played between theGreen Bay Packers and theIndianapolis Colts, wascanceled at the last minute for unsafe playing conditions.Mike Silver ofNFL.com reported that on the morning of the game, it was discovered that the logos at midfield and the end zones had been painted using paint which was not intended for use on the newly installed syntheticFieldTurf. Subsequently, the paint had not fully dried, and officials heated the field to speed up the drying process, causing its rubber infill to melt; the affected areas were described as being slick and "like cement," making it impossible to get decent footing. Stadium officials attempted to address this issue by applyingpaint thinner to the turf before a Packers employee alerted them to a label warning that the substance could result in burns when exposed to skin. In deciding to cancel the game, the league and thePlayers Association cited safety concerns.[6][7][8] Both teams were told at 6:40 p.m.EDT, eighty minutes before kickoff, that the game was going to be canceled. However, fans in the stadium only learned of the pending cancellation via social media, and no official announcement was made until just before the scheduled 8 p.m. kickoff, which was greeted by boos and jeering.[9]
The next year, in2017, the game was moved to Thursday night, making it the first event of the Hall of Fame weekend:[10][11] the game was moved prior to the ceremony to prevent a repeat of the 2016 incident, and has been maintained since. Immediately following the game, the stage and seating area for the Hall of Fame ceremony are erected in the stadium.
Unlike the majority of NFL preseason games, which air on local television stations, the Hall of Fame Game airs nationwide. From1999 to2005, the game was held on Monday night, televised as part ofABC'sMonday Night Football package. It had previously been held typically on Saturday afternoons, except from 1963 to 1965 on Sunday afternoons, televised as part of ABC'sWide World of Sports package (still using theMNF crew). In 1998, the game was put in theMNF package, and played on a Saturday night, which served as a test run for the move to Monday night.
Since2006, the game has largely aired onNBC as part of theSunday Night Football package (which replacedMNF as the NFL's flagship primetime broadcast that season), except in 2007 (when NBC planned to air theChina Bowl preseason game inBeijing, which was postponed and ultimately canceled) and in allSummer Olympics years (2008, 2012, 2016, 2021, 2024, 2028, and 2032) due toNBC's broadcast rights to the Games. In these years, the game is sold to one of the NFL's other media partners, such asNFL Network (underThursday Night Football),ESPN (under the current iteration ofMonday Night Football), andFox.[14] The 2024 game, which was broadcast by ESPN due to the2024 Summer Olympics, was simulcast on ABC.[15]CBS is presently the only linear TV network that has yet to air the Hall of Fame Game.
