The inexplicable snub of Bill Belichick has sparked significant changes. Whether those changes will make the Hall of Fame voting process better is unclear, for now.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame has revised its bylaws with the intent of improving the selection process. The changes will overhaul the process by (among other things) reducing the panel of voters from 50 to 28 and limiting eligibility to three categories: players, coaches, and contributors.
The announcement from the Hall of Fame contends that a comprehensive review started 2.5 years ago. Common sense says that the embarrassment arising from the failure of Belichick to make the cut was the catalyst.
The new bylaws eliminate the seniors category, keeping all players in the same pool without an artificial 25-year window for the “modern era.” This eliminates what has necessarily become a cleanup process by giving out one or more busts per year to players who failed to make it during their quarter century of eligibility.
The revamped selection committee ditches a model that consisted of one voter per team, 17 at-large voters, and one representative of the Pro Football Writers of America. The new panel will consist of 27 at-large voters and a PFWA representative. While making each vote more meaningful, the chance prevents (ideally) the presence of voters who no longer actively cover the NFL as their primary employment.
At the annual selection meeting, the 28 voters will consider 13 players, one coach, and one contributor, with the coach and the contributor finalists determined by a separate committee. The contributor category has been expanded from those who contribute to the game beyond playing or coaching to examining a person’s full football résumé: playing, coaching, and other contributions.
This provides an avenue for candidates like John Madden (who technically got in as a coach but whose enshrinement surely was fueled by is broadcasting career and video-game franchise) and Dick LeBeau (who technically got in as a player but who was better known as a coach) to have a separate, and perhaps easier, path to induction. (That said, it also makes it harder for owners and non-General Managers to get in, since they’ll be competing against players and coaches who have done more than that.)
The meeting will change, too. Instead of assigning specific voters to present the candidates, the same person will present all of them — and that person won’t be a voter. This revision eliminates disparities in the “skills of the individuals making the presentations,” and it prevents one specific voter from becoming an open and obvious advocate for the candidate.
The value of the changes ultimately comes down to the identity of the voters. The Hall of Fame has not yet announced the new panel.
