With J Hutcherson -- Over the years it got to be too easy for people to fantasy manage the National Soccer Hall of Fame. First step, change the location. Then rework the basic business plan. After that, reorient to focus on the latest professional league.
Some got personal. The broader concept of what the Hall might be was never going to work. Nobody outside of Oneonta really wanted to commit. Yet there the Hall stood, a physical location to focus the idea that American soccer has a history worth celebrating.
It's sad, frankly, that the history the Hall held is now going to be put in storage to await future plans that no longer include Oneonta. That building, soccer-specific and the site of memorable gatherings of like-minded people, used for something else.
A few years ago, the United States National Soccer Team Players Association partnered with the National Soccer Hall of Fame to create the Time In program. The point was to honor people with a connection to soccer battling Leukemia. Considering that the disease disproportionately targets children, it was no surprise that most of the program's honorees were youth soccer players.When we held an induction ceremony at the Hall, the purpose of that physical building was obvious. The parents and some of the honorees could see their names set in brick, part of the Hall of Fame's Walk of Fame beneath the giant soccer ball made to look like it was bursting out of the building. The location made it real in a way a website will never match.
It was a pleasure to work with and get to know the people running the Hall. They were dedicated, well aware of the issues the Hall faced, yet committed to making it work in it's actual location rather than in theory. A soccer museum that never shrank from having a broader purpose, building connections to and through the game.
Like we've already covered, it's very easy to design your own model. Move the Hall to a Major League Soccer stadium. Have the induction ceremony in New York City. Downplay any broader connection to a little town in the middle of nowhere that just so happens to be home to two colleges that produced Glenn Myernick, Mike Burns, and MLS commissioner Don Garber.
The people that worked at the Hall were under no illusions. The reminders were constant as their situation grew less tenable. The harder they pushed, the more the Hall was required to spend. The bigger the expectations, the more obvious the flaws became.
Since the doors are finally closed for good, it needs to be said that the people who worked there knew how to put on an event. I went to enough inductions to see it move from a small stage (the Wynalda and Caligiuri year when it was held in the atrium) to a large one (the Hamm/Foudy year when it was held outside) and then back again. They had a better store than any MLS stadium you've been too. No matter the size of the crowd, they treated people like friends. They made the long travel times seem worth it.
For all the talk of soccer as the next great emerging sport, scant attention was paid to the idea that only baseball has really made a museum work. How many people do you know planning a vacation to Canton, Ohio or Springfield, Mass, the sites of the football and basketball halls? How about South Bend, Indiana, the home of the college football hall of fame that holds their inductions in New York City?
New York City itself wasn't capable of sufficiently supporting a general sports museum that borrowed exhibits from the others. It couldn't support the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame annex that recently closed.
As with so many things, the idea got well ahead of the reality. There's always been a better answer. There's always someone with a clear vision of how these things should work. Most of the time, that has very little to do with what's already in place.
It's not an unusual story for American sports. much less American soccer. Not that it makes it any easier.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
I appreciate USSoccerPlayres.com, and now the rub:
I am disappointed that there was no coverage or commentary on Gulati’s pre-World Cup result, unchallenged re-election as President of USSF.
Last month, you had ten questions with King Gulati. I wish you had twelve:
11. Is it unethical for an unchallenged election to take place before the results of the World Cup are known, which is the gauge around the world for a federation’s success.
12. Why is there no person willing to challenge your presidency and your results?
Truly, I expect more from USSoccerPlayers.com. I am disappointed with the lack of coverage.
I’m sitting here, reading this, eating my lunch out of a National Soccer Hall of Fame mug. I’m really sad that the doors closed, and I’m really glad that I got to go there. Here’s hoping that, one day, it will be able to open again at some place that people can go see the history.
But if we asked twelve questions, how would we be able to call it 10 Questions With…?
Let me start by saying fair enough. I’m going to chase that by saying we try to stay out of Federation politics.
I’ve got one on those on my desk. The NASL Festival version.
I guess I have mixed feelings about the Hall closing – I wish it was still open… but I can’t get past the feeling that the current situation was based upon wholly unrealistic estimates. They overreached and it all collapsed. Maybe I don’t have all the facts – but did they really need to build fields?
*sigh* Let me go see if I can buy a mug
Re: I’m going to chase that by saying we try to stay out of Federation politics.
Continuing off-topic, if the site wishes to be the premier site for soccer in the United States, then your boots will have to get a bit politically muddy.
The “Non-MSM” soccer writers complain that the MSM does not put enough pressure on US soccer (in all its forms – MLS/USNT), yet even the “Non-MSM” is letting Gulati slide. How does a man get re-elected prior to his upcoming examination? What soccer federation, other than those not involved, holds an election months prior to the World Cup? Was his potential severence package increased with the re-election and new contract? This reeks of cronyism.
The US Soccer Federation president is a volunteer position, so no severance package, salary, or contract.
“did they really need to build fields?”
Absolutely, the fields were the draw. I’ve been to the Hall 5 times; 4 of which were related to the fields (twice with a team playing in the Hall of Fame Cup and twice for clinics). Only once did I go solely for the museum. Without those events, the HOF would’ve had far fewer visitors than it did. I remember going to it once when it was in this tiny, dumpy little building in the middle of town.
The Hall had a lot of obstacles that it was unable to overcome. Compare it to Cooperstown, which is also “in the middle of nowhere.” Even aside from the more ingrained traditions of baseball, the baseball HOF had several advantages.
1) It’s located in the center of town, which gives it a better feel and other things to do once your museum-ing is over. There’s also the Farmers Museum. The soccer HOF is located in the middle of nowhere’s middle of nowhere. This matters because…
2) Going through the baseball HOF takes most of the day. Going through the soccer HOF takes about 60-90 minutes.
3) The baseball HOF runs new exhibits a few times a year. The soccer HOF has had pretty much the exact same thing since the first time I went 5 or 6 years ago.
2 and 3 mean that even if you’re only interested in the museum, you have a reason to go to Cooperstown regularly (my dad tries to drag me there every year). Once you’ve seen the soccer HOF’s exhibits, there’s no reason to go back just for the museum. Plus, people aren’t going to travel from other parts of the country (I live two hours away from Oneonta) just to see a museum that takes you an hour to go through.
I’m not saying any of this is the fault of the soccer HOF officials. It’s a really nice museum and I’m sorry to see it leave. I wonder if it would’ve been feasible to have it only open on weekends or something. It’s too bad it didn’t work out but I’m not sure how it could have.
Jay- thanks for this article- I appreciate your thoughtful analysis of the situation and the sadness of this day. I am most pleased that you captured the essence of the staff’s challenges and the constant effort to continue no matter what the political environment within the soccer world wanted. It actually lasted much longer then the powers that be in the Federation wanted…. and as a side note, the fields were there first- built to have tournaments to bring visitors to the area to get the dream of the Hall built. As stated, they were the major draw for bringing visitors into the Hall. Unlike baseball, very few Americans can name 20 Hall of Famers for the sport of Soccer- so true fans who would travel to the mecca are few and far between… So players were coaxed into the museum and hopefully became aware of the vast history of the sport they played, working to turn them into fans. Thank you again
this article serves as yet another small consolation for a sad loss. nevertheless, a well-written tribute to some worthy people and a truly special place. i can only hope that your viewpoint begins to gain more momentum…
Hey, thank you Kathryn. For those of you unaware, Kathryn was the Director of Development at the Hall and a big reason why those of us who made the trip over the years feel so strongly about what has happened.
Does this not go to an overall lack of respect and awareness for American soccer history? Its not just ppl not being able to name 20 Hall of Famers its about FSC and all these American soccer podcast shows who never have made a pilgrimage to the Hall. It still goes deeper then that. How many American soccer fans know anything about the ASL or the Met Oval. When I talk about the fact that before there was a US Football Association there was an American Football Association that actually fielded the first US team back in 1875 ppl look at me in shock. But no one talks about the history of this sport in our country beyond the last 60 years. Folks really have a problem understanding that the sport goes much further back then the 1950 World Cup game against England. College Soccer was started before US Soccer was even founded.
If we don’t talk these little tidbits of information how can we expect a decent amount of fans to travel to our Hall of Fame?