Well this is too bad on several levels. My wife and I visited in 2002 during the World Cup, and had a great time going through the exhibits, then coming back a couple days later for breakfast and the US/Poland match. One of the benefits, though, will be that if the Hall of Fame no longer exists, Jeff Agoos cannot be called a Hall of Famer.
The museum in Oneonta, which was built 10 years ago, is closing, but the Hall of Fame, which was founded 59 years ago, is not ceasing to exist.
This is a blessing in disguise. Closing it gives the Hall of Fame a chance to relocate to a location that is more accessible to American soccer fans, preferably in an MLS market and near or at an MLS stadium. I love American soccer history and I've never even thought of going to Oneonta. But put it in an MLS market and it greatly increases the chances that I get to the HoF and I suspect there are many more American soccer fans in a similar situation.
Sorry to nitpick Roger, but I wanted to quickly clarify for everyone that there has been a soccer museum located in Oneonta since I think at least 1979. I recall reading about the original location vote results in SoccerAmerica and then decided to attend SUNY-O in 1980 mostly with the idea that I was to certainly witness some great soccer. I fondly remember their original location on the first floor of the Wilber Mansion. The new museum building (their 3rd location) is what you currently reference and which (IMHO) has caused their eventual demise. Hey, it was a good long run upstate and it lasted much longer than I thought. Time moves on and so will the physical location of the Hall. Now is the time to move it I think to either to Chester PA or Harrison NJ...hope that somebody in MLS soccer management is thinking over the possibilities of what could be...
Yes, the museum in Oneonta is the third there, after the Wilber Mansion and the storefront just down the street from the Wilber Mansion. My point is that what is closing this month is the bricks-and-mortar aspect. The Hall of Fame, which was founded in 1950, three decades before Oneonta entered the picture, is still alive, and a Hall of Famer is still a Hall of Famer.
I'm in that group of people, although I've thought of going their previously. Put it in an MLS market and you'll get more people there.
Why not at the new Red Bull Stadium or at the Home Depot Center in LA? Either one I believe would be better than Oneota....
I make my annual pilgrimage to the US Soccer Hall of Fame.........and I was the only one there every time I went. There's a historical reason for why it's in Oneonta, but that doesn't mean much now. According to this article, 17k people went thru the gates each year. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/soccer/09/04/Soccer.HallofFame/index.html I imagine many of those people were there for the games being played on the fields and just walked thru. I've always thought the hall would do much better in an MLS market. I've been to the hockey hall of fame in Toronto a couple of times, and the place is always packed. Tourists, many of whom wouldn't know the first thing about hockey, needed something to do. Put the Hall of Fame in NY, LA, Chicago, DC, etc. and the attendance would go waaaaaay up. I say we put it in the first US-based MLS stadium that's build downtown. (i.e. not Frisco, Bridgeview, etc.) Downtown Houston would be great, for instance.
Orlando has so much over stuff going on that I imagine folks would find it tough to find time to squeeze the HoF into their visit there. I mean, imagine a conversation from a dad going like this: OK, junior, we can take you and your sister to the SOCCER HALL OF FAME!!! to see a bunch of displays about old guys you've never heard of OR we can go see Shamu and then head over to Animal Kingdom and do some water rides and see lions. What's it gonna be? Just too much already in Orlando. However, I think St. Louis would be a great and natural place to have the US Soccer HoF, especially if they ever get the investors needed to land an MLS team. I imagine Jeff Cooper would have no issues donating some space around his stadium for the soccer Hall. In fact, that might help his chances with MLS or even help him get more investors. Given St. Louis' history with the sport, it's hard to imagine a more ideal place for the US soccer Hall.
yeah, but they already have the Bowling Hall of Fame. Which, since it hasn't enshrined Jeff Agoos, I'd be more likely to visit.
Jeff Agoos is a deserving hall of famer.......stop it. Over 100 caps for the USMNT..........and a 5-time MLS champion/All-Time Best XI member. One bad own-goal against Portugal doesn't define his career.
Portugal own, Jamaica backpass, Azteca red card, blah blah blah....... He was the USSF teacher's pet, the brown noser who has decent enough skill to get by. The fact that a player of his caliber could earn 100 caps shows how far US soccer has come.
I would add torching his US uniform after getting dropped from the squad in '98. As to those 100 caps, he's of that generation that came of age before we had a league, and playing for the national team was close to a full time job for a lot of those guys. Not slighting their contribution (well, not slighting most of them), but a lot of those cap counts are inflated as a result. Now, I might go so far to say that the reason Oneonta will close is that it's hard even for fans to get too fired up about going to see a place that has enshrined the likes of Agoos. We say it's out of the way and inconvenient, but good God, Cooperstown is FARTHER off the main drag than Oneonta is, and baseball fans make the trip there. I know this for a fact, as my wife and I spent five days around Cooperstown this summer. They pack them in. There are a lot of reasons for Cooperstown's success and Oneonta's failure, but one of them is obvious: that soccer hasn't captured the imagination of non-fans the way baseball has, and until it does, we need to be smart about where we put our museum and our hall of Fame. And I don't think pretending that Jeff Agoos is the soccer equivalent of, say, Hank Greenberg or Rogers Hornsby will help bring that about. I could be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure we need to do something if we want the soccer Hall of Fame to be a major stop for fans and non fans alike. By the way: here's a list of inductees. Some of the most interesting inductees are the guys typical American fans have never heard of. Willy Schaller, for instance. And even as a Sting fan, I have to wonder why Willy Roy is in there as a player. But anyway, have a look for yourself. http://national.soccerhall.org/famers/Inductees.htm
Interesting. Did the new ballpark in St. Louis obliterate the old site, or did they move it for some other reason? I actually enjoyed my visit to the Bowling Hall of Fame, but I was only in town to see the Cardinals in a three game series. I can't imagine being in Arlington ever again, so I'm glad I went when I had the chance.
It might be good to keep in mind that the Hall of Fame was more than just "old stuff and players no one knew". It was about honoring players, teams and the sport. Unfortunately, it was mismanaged - much to the dismay of the hard working historians that toiled there. The only other soccer shrine remaining is the INTERNATIONAL SOCCER ARCHIVES in Florida. But I don't think they do indoor or college soccer. Maybe some women's stuff.
The Hall of Fame has been struggling financially for years. Agoos was inducted last month. It's not his fault.
It would be lovely to package the Soccer Hall of Fame with an SSS. Not in D.C., however -- we've seen the City Museum and the National Sports Museum go down in flames, and the Spy Museum and the Newseum have had to enact ridiculous discounts to get people to come into the doors because the Smithsonian remains free.
The one time I went to the HoF, I was like a kid in a candy store. It was kind of a letdown, as I had been to Cooperstown the day before. Still, it was worth the trip. I realize it must be like pulling teeth to get archival items from defunct leagues and teams, who certainly thought more about survival than sending their stuff to the HoF, so what they have is pretty special. Having said that, though, it would be better to have it somewhere more on the beaten path; St. Louis would be good. It's just hard to come up with a place where it would be a natural fit, seeing that the birthplace of soccer wasn't here. I guess Princeton, NJ might work, seeing that it was the spot of the first "football" game played in the US. If not there, then Rutgers.
The first game in the United States using the Football Association rules devised in London in 1863 was played on Oct. 11, 1866 in Waukesha, Wisc. A team of 22 Carroll College students defeated a team of 25 Waukesha town residents, 5-2.