College Football Hall of Fame moving to Atlanta; is that the best destination?
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The College Football Hall of Fame is heading south.Following years of speculation on a possible move, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., confirmed to the Associated Press this morning that the College Football Hall of Fame will be relocating to Atlanta. The National Football Foundation, which operates the hall, has terminated its lease agreement with the city.
Since it opened in South Bend in 1995, attendance figures have been disappointing despite its proximity to the University of Notre Dame. According to the AP, the hall had more than 150,000 visitors in its first year before dropping to an average of 60,000 a year over the last 13 years.
But is Atlanta the best choice to honor the heroes of college football’s past? Even though it’s in the middle of SEC country, the city itself is not a college town. If you want to move to the South, why not set up shop in Tuscaloosa or Gainesville? Heck, even nearby Athens might be a good destination.
And there are plenty of other good choices -- Columbus, Norman, Austin, Ann Arbor, Lincoln, Knoxville, Baton Rouge, Boulder ... the list goes on.
Would these cities drawn in enough fans to fix the hall of fame’s attendance problems? Maybe a big city is the way to go. Maybe NFL-less Los Angeles would be the perfect destination.
After all, L.A. has one of the biggest tourism markets in the nation in addition to having an outstanding college football legacy even though it isn’t considered a college town in the traditional sense.
USC and UCLA have combined for 12 national titles and have a combined eight Heisman Trophy winners. What other major U.S. metropolis can come close to claiming that? Perhaps Boston if you count all the titles Harvard won a century ago.
Where do you think the College Football Hall of Fame should relocate?
-- Austin Knoblauch
