News: KC area shows interest in National Soccer Hall of Fame

morry · Apr 14, 2010

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/04/13/1875932/kc-area-shows-interest-in-national.html

Poor Preki. And have pity on Thomas Dooley and Bruce Arena as well.

All three are to be inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame this year, but there’s nowhere to hang their plaques because the museum in Oneonta, N.Y., has closed its doors — for now.

That’s where the Wizards, the Kansas City, Kan.-based National Soccer Coaches Association of America and other civic interests may step in.

The Wizards have had preliminary discussions to move some of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum’s exhibits to the Major League Soccer team’s stadium now under construction next to Kansas Speedway in Wyandotte County. That could include the displays of the now-272 inductees.

“We have been thinking of maybe not relocating the Hall of Fame in its entirety to Kansas City, but we have been speaking to the Hall of Fame about locating a branch or a wing of the Hall at our facility,” said Greg Cotton, chief operating officer of the Wizards.

“We will have a field-level club in the stadium and thought what a cool place to do a Hall of Fame-type of room to have soccer memorabilia from the history of U.S. soccer around the stadium with some interactive exhibits.”

The National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum, founded in 1979 and housed in its current building since 1999, announced in February that because of declining revenue and poor attendance, it was closing the facility and relocating its collections and archives in several locations around the country.

In fact, representatives of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America retrieved their memorabilia from the Hall of Fame last month and will display it in its headquarters in downtown Kansas City, Kan.

“You look at this stuff, and you grab your heart and say, ‘We’ve got to keep this alive somehow,’ ” said Joe Cummings, president and CEO of the coaches’ association. “There are some people across the spectrum of interested parties that are talking about it … the Wizards, the Sports Commission, the chambers of commerce … all have the same reaction.

“This is something we should be talking about.”

Several factors all seem to be galvanizing in Kansas City’s pursuit at least a portion of the National Soccer Hall of Fame: The grassroots support from the coaches’ association; the timing of the Wizards’ new soccer-specific stadium scheduled to open as soon as 2011 along with 18-24 youth fields for tournaments and competitions in the burgeoning Village West development; and Kansas City being one of 18 cities included in U.S. Soccer’s bid to play host to either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.

Plus, Kansas City is carving a niche as a Hall of Fame destination with the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and the Royals and Chiefs’ new halls of fame at the renovated Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums.

Cotton envisions staging the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremonies at the new Wizards stadium in conjunction with the championship game of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open tournament and a huge youth tourney on the same weekend.

“The opportunity is there,” Cotton said. “It’s a cool idea, it’s a big idea, and it requires a bunch of money, but now’s the time to do it.”

It’s difficult to estimate the cost, because it’s uncertain how much space a hall of fame would occupy at the Wizards’ property and how easily it could be incorporated in the construction of the facility. The 40,000-square foot museum in upstate New York was built for about $8 million.

But the National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum, which received revenue from corporate sponsors and paid admissions, attracted just 17,000 visitors a year, a fraction of the more than 350,000 who annually tour the nearby National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.

“We’re in a geographic location that doesn’t have a great deal of population density,” said Jonathan Ullman, president of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum. “You rely heavily on tourism. There is tourism to the region, but not to this specific location on the scale that brings the level of investment and sponsorship that is required to grow an organization like this.”

“Investors need to see a return on their investment, and we viewed our long-term prospects better served through a different operating model.”

So while that new model does not include a single destination for the entire Hall, Ullman said the Wizards’ site could succeed in an abridged form.

“You’re talking about putting a Hall of Fame in an area that has a great deal of tradition, has a population density and other attractions that bring tourism to the area,” Ullman said of Kansas City. “It has an association with the national soccer coaches … it’s not a bad concept. But there are arguments to be made for having an attraction like this in a number of municipalities throughout the country.”

So maybe Preki will have somewhere to see his Hall of Fame display after all. And it could be in Kansas City, where he starred for nine years with the Wizards.

“There does need to be a location in which there will be exhibitions and some hanging of the plaques,” Ullman said. “In an ideal world, it would be wonderful if we had a very strong destination attraction that was very popular. … But as we transition to this next stage of our operation, we’ve decided to go to this decentralized model, where we will have exhibits in higher-traffic locations, and have events in which we’re able to reach a large number of fans and get the message out in that manner.

“It will be in locations strongly associated with soccer, geographically dispersed and have a high degree of traffic and accessibility by soccer fans.”

And that location just may be at the Wizards’ new stadium.
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Ruict · Apr 14, 2010

morry said: ↑

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/04/13/1875932/kc-area-shows-interest-in-national.html
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Personally i think SHOF should be in Seattle. Who was the great mastemind in putting a SHOF in Upstate NY.

morry · Apr 14, 2010

RaveGreen said: ↑

Rumor has it that Seattle has quietly been putting together a proposal to put it here near Seattle Center.
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that was going to be the FIFA World Footballl Hall of Fame not this pointless little American one right?

RaveGreen · Apr 14, 2010

morry said: ↑

that was going to be the FIFA World Footballl Hall of Fame not this pointless little American one right?
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Both.

trip76 · Apr 14, 2010

a new central facility as part of the developement around RBA wouldn't be the worst place.

kirktrobot · Apr 15, 2010

No city deserves it more than St. Louis.

morry · Apr 15, 2010

kirktrobot said: ↑

No city deserves it more than St. Louis.
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they would just then leave their ribbon cutting scissors at the hotel