The Pro Football Hall of Fame is making massive changes to its process for picking future Hall of Famers.
The Hall says it is hoping to “improve its selection process” from one that led to the 2026 class not including former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick as one of its “most-deserving” candidates as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
“The Hall continually reviews its bylaws to ensure the selection process reflects the highest standards of integrity and the magnitude of election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” said Hall of Fame president Jim Porter. “There is no more important task at the Hall of Fame than the election of each new class.”
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick on the sidelines in 2023. (Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
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The Hall has decided to cut the number of selectors from 50 people down to 28. Of that reduced number, three will be non-voting alternates.
That means the days when every NFL team had a representative intimately tied to that team on the selection committee are over.
Some current selectors who are being removed will be asked to participate in various Hall of Fame committees.
The identity of the selectors remaining and those removed is still being decided by the Hall of Fame, according to Porter.
As some selectors are being eliminated so is the traditional system of presentation. For decades selectors presented Hall candidates to the rest of the selectors by stating a case for that person using statistics, testimony and endorsements from various respected football sources.
FILE – This is the The Pro Football Hall of Fame logo at midfield at Tom Benson Field before a Hall of Fame exhibition game Aug. 1, 2024, in Canton, Ohio. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
The entire group of selectors would then debate the pros and cons of that candidate before voting.
Under the new system, one voice from a non-selector will introduce each candidate by simply announcing his name and sharing his resume. Then the reduced group of selectors will go immediately into discussion on the merits of that candidate.
So, why is the formal presentation disappearing?
The PFHOF is trying to avoid what it calls “unintended biases” in its selection process and one way to do that is to limit the advantage some selectors have had because of their superior oratory skills over others, according to the Hall.
The categories the selection committee will now consider have been cut to three:
Player.
Coach.
Contributor.
The past splitting of players into modern-era players and senior players will end. All players from all eras not currently in the Hall of Fame will all be lumped into one category for nomination.
The Hall is believed to be eliminating the senior category so there is no emotional bias toward trying to select a player, say, in his final year as a modern-era candidate, before he disappears into the so-called senior category abyss.
That abyss, by the way, has spit out 19 seniors being selected to the Hall in the last seven years. So this new approach is like the proverbial pendulum swinging away from a concentration on senior candidates being selected.
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Bill Polian speaks during the NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on Aug. 8, 2015 in Canton, Ohio. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
The Hall intends to have a coach and contributor subcommittee each consisting of 11 voting selectors and three alternates. Those will consist of some current selectors not chosen among the overall 28.
Those committees will put forward one coach and one contributor to be considered as candidates by the greater group of selectors.
A contributor, by the way, is someone who added to the game outside of playing or coaching. So broadcasters, owners, executives, commissioners and others are eligible. If contributors also played, coached, or served as an executive, their whole body of work will be considered.
Every year the Hall expects to consider 13 players, one coach and one contributor as its candidates.
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The Hall of Fame says its class sizes will range from three to seven inductees every year. The typical number of enshrinees is more likely to be five or six because of the math involved.
The reduced number of selectors will meet in person once a year, with the next meeting scheduled for the first week of Feb. 2027.
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