| | By Darren Rovell
ESPN.com
You can tell a lot about a Hall of Fame by where it is.
|  | | The band is ready for Hall of Fame weekend in Cooperstown. |
The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.: A small American town, idyllic in the summer, a perfect symbol of the timeless national pastime.
The Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.: A medium-sized American town, in the center of New England, a bit gritty like the sport it helped spawn.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio: A working-class town representing middle America for a sport that has climbed to the forefront of the working class sports fan.
The Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto: A cosmopolitan location in one of Canada's most intriguing cities for a sport that has galvanized an entire nation.
At various times, each hall has grown, prospered and struggled. But each holds its own unique place in North American sporting culture. We take a snapshot of each:
Baseball, Cooperstown, N.Y.
The Baseball Hall of Fame is the most popular of the major Halls of Fame, drawing close to 400,000 fans -- and sometimes more -- every year.
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Visitors: 385,000 per year
Size: 60,000 sq. ft.
Annual budget: $11.8 million
Price for a family of four: $27
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The Baseball Hall of Fame estimates that last weekend's induction ceremony only makes up about five percent of its total crowd for the year--with 30,000 people in town for the induction and 20,000 attending the museum. The museum has a $10 millon direct economic impact on Cooperstown, which is only one square mile.
But Cooperstown (pop. 2,400) still has its share of problems. Four years ago, a youth baseball park with 10 fields moved into the small town, just four blocks south of the Baseball Hall of Fame. While the restaurant and hotel industry is thriving from the extra 600 young ballplayers and their families during the summer months, some say that other baseball-related business is getting hurt.
"Those people occupy hotel rooms for six days," said Vin Russo, owner of Mickey's place, a sports memorablia shop in Cooperstown. "We have a capacity problem, we don't have the hotels that we need."
Russo says that, not only do the Little Leaguers take up the rooms, but they only visit the Hall of Fame and sports-related shops once during their stay.
"Obviously if you are here for an entire week, you are not buying five days," Russo said. "So we do about one-fifth of the business."
Word on the street is that the suffering Canadian dollar, coupled with the lack of success of the Blue Jays in recent years, has also prevented the baseball business in Cooperstown from thriving. Toronto-to-Cooperstown is only a six-hour drive, slightly longer than the trip from Boston or New York City. Cooperstown merchants now have to be nostalgic about the times when they sold more Toronto Blue Jays caps than Cleveland Indians hats.
Basketball: Springfield, Mass.
Despite the rise in popularity of basketball in America under the David Stern era, the Basketball Hall of Fame is still anemic at the turnstiles. But the current building, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, is on its last legs.
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Visitors: 100,000 per year
Size: 27,000 sq. ft.
Annual budget: N/A
Price for a family of four: $28
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In an effort to give the Basketball Hall of Fame some much-needed credibility, a new hall is being built, with an anticipated opening of July 4, 2002. The 24-month undertaking will cost $40 million and will be part of a $103 million, 18½-acre project on the bank of the Connecticut River.
Hall of Fame Properties, Inc., which is made up of the NBA, NCAA (represented by Host Communications) and the Basketball Hall of Fame, will chip in $12.7 million to the new hall. A fundraising campaign has already generated $18 million towards the goal of $29 million. While no public funding is going to the hall itself, the rest of the riverfront property is being paid for by the city. A recent Deloitte & Touche study predicts that the development of the riverfront area will help boost the Basketball Hall of Fame's attendance by at least 200,000 people per year.
Pro Football: Canton, Ohio
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is in a unique location. It's in Canton because that's where one of the original NFL franchises was (the Canton Bulldogs). But it's not in a particularly large city.
The location might seem less than ideal, but Dave Motts, Vice President of Marketing, says that the location is actually perfect for football fans.
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Visitors: 200,000 per year
Size: 83,000 sq. ft.
Annual budget: $3.6 million
Price for a family of four: $25
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"Location has actually helped us since we are within driving distance of big cities," Motts said. "People say we could draw up to 500,000 if we were in New York City, but we could possibly get lost in a bigger city. We are also within the heartland of six different NFL teams in the Browns, Lions, Colts, Steelers, Bengals and Eagles."
The hall's autograph sessions during the 10-day festival surrounding the induction (July 28-30) represent one of the greatest values in all of sports. For $75, fans can obtain the signatures of 11-13 Hall of Famers. The $100 Class of 2000 autograph session was sold out in three hours.
Football's greatest fortnight has a $10 to $12 million direct impact on the city of Canton, according to the Football Hall of Fame.
It (opened in 1963) is the second oldest hall and has had three expansions. Before 2005, the hall will likely add on another extension.
"If we take in an average of five (players per year), we are out of space in five years in our Enshrinement Hall," said Motts. "The question we are asking here is 'Can we proceed with a new presentation in the existing space or do we have to knock out a wall?' "
Hockey: Toronto
The Hockey Hall of Fame benefits from being the only hall in a major metropolitan area, but like any big city, there is plenty to fight with for the entertainment dollar.
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Visitors: 350,000 per year
Size: 57,000 sq. ft..
Annual budget: $8.15 million (U.S.)
Price for a family of four: $25.40 (U.S.)
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Built just seven years ago, the Hockey Hall of Fame is the newest and still does well at the gate (350,000 fans per year). By renting out the facility for 200 corporate events a year, the hall made $275,000 (U.S.) last year.
"We have had weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, and celebrities make appearances for motivational speeches," said COO Jeff Delhomme. "When we modeled this building, we knew we were going to get into the business, but my numbers were way off."
A party for 200 costs between $10,000 (U.S.) and $13,500 (U.S.).
The Hockey Hall of Fame has also raised approximately $24 million (U.S.) from sponsorships since 1993, which has helped it maintain ticket prices and pay back portions of its $5.3 million (U.S.) loan from the NHL. The NHL also gives $75,000 (U.S.) a year to support the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Darren Rovell covers sports business for ESPN.com
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