An article by Drew Edwards in today's Hamilton Spectator states that the Canadian Football Hall of Fame will vote on Mar 9/09 whether to move this year's induction ceremonies in Winnipeg this year. The goal is to move it around to other CFL cities to increase the exposure of the Canadian Hall of Fame by connecting with football fans across Canada. Unfortunately, the link to this article does not seem to be available on thespec.com.
An article in today's edition of the Winnipeg Free Press indicates that the 2009 Canadian Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony will definitely be held in Winnipeg on Sep 26/09 during the half-time of a game between the Bombers and the Argos and other events are planned around it:
While the Ticats dropped the ball last year around HOF I can’t say I’m very happy about this move. Would the NFL move its HOF weekend from Canton? Hell no!! Hamilton is the home of the Hall of Fame and any induction ceremony should be in the Hall’s home city. Just my 2-cents.
I agree with the H.O.F. game moving around, specifically for when there may be 2 or 3 players that are being inducted into the Hall that played for the same team, example B.C. That gives those fans who have cheered for those players for a number of years to be a part of the induction and also I would think it would make it a little more special to the players to be inducted in front of the fans that they have played for.
Being installed into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame is all about the honour and recognition. It's not about the bricks and mortar of the building itself. And although we all are biased towards Hamilton (most of us are anyways), it's not about Hamilton. It's about Canadian Football coast to coast.
That's some pretty sharp, terrific thinking I believe.
I like the idea. I think Hamilton has dropped the ball too many times. Infact the HOF is in a horrible location and would probably be trated better in another town. Why is it this city has to cram everything in a 4 block area of the city ? HOF, arena, cityhall, courthouses, art gallery, central library, Hamilton Place.......
It's a good idea to move the game to a Western city for a change. At least they will probably sell out the game there. Not like Hamilton where the attendance has been a disgrace and an embarrassement to the league in past HOF games !!!! <!-- s:roll: -->:roll:<!-- s:roll: -->
I agree the HOF game day here is a joke. At the same time the CFL does not spend a lot of money promoting the day. The half time shows recently are an embarassment. They use to drive these guys around the stadium for everyone to get a closer view, sorry jumbotron does not cut it. Then they have "Leslie Stewart" asking them questions???? Come on! Sorry Leslie, no offence, as much as I like you, your football expertise is lacking here. Especially with the older players and their careers. CFL can do a better job.
No doubt the HOF is in Hamilton and the HOF inductions should stay here period!
The city of Hamilton didn't show it was serious about the treasure of the Cats and the HoF game should leave here toute suite IMHO. No Grey Cup until this city shows it's serious, the first big step was voting for the Pan-am Games/stadium, huge, now the follow through as they say.