Stark County's crown jewel soon might no longer be the only gem in the jewelry box. Leaders of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Canton City Schools, private investors and business leaders have commissioned a study to see what it would take to turn the Hall of Fame into more than a campus.

Stark County’s crown jewel soon might no longer be the only gem in the jewelry box.

Leaders of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Canton City Schools, private investors and business leaders have commissioned a study to see what it would take to turn the Hall of Fame into more than a campus.

Where the Hall of Fame Village idea leads is unknown until an international feasibility group completes its study next month. A key part of that study would examine the addition of a four-star hotel and conference center to the Hall of Fame grounds.

This plan is supported by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has pledged the league’s financial support

The Hall of Fame’s president and executive director, David Baker, thinks big — Walt Disney-big.

Baker sees no reason why something grand can’t happen right here in Stark County with the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the anchor.

“No one thought Kissimmee, Florida, would be what it is today,” Baker said. “Most people don’t know Disney World is located in Kissimmee. Look at what they did. They did it with a cartoon mouse. We have John Madden, Dick Butkus and 164 living Hall of Famers who stand for the kind of values and character people want to identify with.”

Baker came to Canton after putting the finishing touches on a $1.5 billion integrated health care village in Henderson, Nevada. Baker said Canton has a signifigant advantage the project in Nevada did not.

“For starters we have the Hall of Fame here, and we have this incredible metaphor for excellence,” Baker said. “The third thing that we have here is this incredible group of partners in the community. I can’t overstate this. Each person at this table has brought something important. I’ve been blown away by the leadership in this community.”

Baker and the key players in this project met last week, and The Repository was given access to this discussion. This was the 12th time the group met.

THE PLAYERS

Baker; Stuart Lichter, real-estate developer and president of Industrial Realty Group; Dennis Saunier, president and CEO of Canton Chamber of Commerce; Canton Mayor William Healy and Deputy Mayor Fonda Williams; Adrian Allison, superintendent of Canton City Schools; and Anne Graffice, chairwoman of the Stark County Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, are working together to make Hall of Fame Village a reality.

A cooperative public-private partnership of principal players is being formed, and a feasibility study is underway to see whether Stark County will support one of the largest tourism investments in the state’s history, and certainly the most significant development to the Hall of Fame.

“Without a doubt it is the most significant development,” said Joe Horrigan, the Hall of Fame’s executive vice president of museums, selection process and chief communications officer. “Just getting the Hall in 1963 was very significant. We’ve had a lot of changes since then, and we’ve expanded physically and nationally. This is the culmination of efforts that have come before us, and a new element that is something beyond the museum. That’s the biggest shift in thinking here. This could be monumental.”

The idea started with renovating Fawcett Stadium out of a need to make the stadium safer. That $25 million renovation was boosted with a $10 million state grant.

The Hall already is working with HKS Architects to renovate Fawcett. HKS designed AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis and a stadium under construction for the Minnesota Vikings. An HKW architect told Baker the relationship between the stadium and the Hall is like “two older people sitting in chairs with their backs toward each other, rather than facing and talking.”

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something great,” Baker said. “If we’re going to make it safer, isn’t this the moment to say, ‘Can we make it better?’ How can we do it better than we’ve ever done it?”

The NFL is behind the idea, as is a key real-estate developer with a track record for investing in Ohio projects.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told The Repository in an exclusive interview that the league would support Baker’s vision for a Hall of Fame Village.

“I look at this and it’s a dynamic vision here when you look at all of the elements of it,” Goodell said. “It’s responsive and consistent with all the things the NFL is focused on with respect to trying to create bigger platforms for the game of football. We think this is great for the game of football.”

Baker presented a preliminary plan to all 32 NFL owners earlier this year, and received a standing ovation when he finished.

THE STUDY

The Hall of Fame, Canton Chamber of Commerce, Stark County Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, and a private partner have paid for the comprehensive study by Convention, Sports and Leisure International. CSL has worked with many NFL and major college football teams on venue and event planning.

Baker and the area partners aren’t limiting their thoughts.

“Sometimes I’m here and I do hear people say, ‘You have to remember this is Canton, not L.A. or California,’ ” Baker said. “I really think in this instance, the only thing that can keep this from being whatever it’s supposed to be is that kind of thought.

“My whole point about Kissimmee, Florida, is at some point, someone there once said, ‘Wait a minute, you have to remember this is only Kissimmee, Florida.’ Now I’m not saying this is going to be Disney World by any means. What I’m saying is why limit ourselves?”

“When they started with a mouse, they started from scratch,” Horrigan said. “This represents a much bigger mouse.”

A final cost for the project has not been determined, because, as Lichter pointed out, the study is not completed.

“Whatever this turns out to be, it is going to be financially feasible,” Lichter said. “The money won’t be the issue. It will be available, and there will be a choice of options. That’s part of the process we’re in right now. You have a very good environment right now.”

Lichter owns a significant piece of Stark County’s history already. IRG, his California-based company, bought the Hoover Co. property in North Canton for $5 million in 2008.

“Stu stepped up, and we don’t even really know what we’re doing yet,” Baker said.

Lichter met with Baker on Baker’s third day on the job when Baker was hired to lead the Hall of Fame earlier this year. That meeting was arranged by Williams and Healy, who asked Lichter how he would spur economic development in the area.

Lichter immediately pointed to the Hall of Fame. Lichter said he has driven along Interstate 77 for 15 years, always wondering why no one has developed the area around the Hall.

Lichter said he looked at the Hall of Fame as a diamond without a setting.

“People want places that have a sense of place. That’s what you see with the Fourth Street development in downtown Cleveland,” Lichter said. “When real-estate development tries to create a sense of place, it needs the anchor to start off with. I’ve been driving past here for years saying here’s an anchor without a sense of place.

“You have this incredible attraction here that people come from all over, and nobody has created around it. When you create a sense of place, each of those entities that comes on board ... they feed off each other, and it grows exponentially. Let’s use the anchor we have and create that multiplier effect of creating attractions that want to be here.”

The Canton Chamber and Convention and Visitors’ Bureau each contributed $50,000 toward the feasibility study. Canton City Schools gave the Hall of Fame permission for beer sales at the enshrinement and game activities last month, and some of those funds will go toward the feasibility study. Lichter bridged the gap and put in the rest for the study.

Baker is hoping to have concrete answers by the end of October.

NFL RELATIONSHIP

Whatever takes shape around George Halas Drive, the NFL wants to be a part of it. The league and the Hall of Fame traditionally have had a mutually beneficial relationship, and the NFL has contributed tens of millions of dollars to various projects.

“It’s beyond a symbolic relationship,” Goodell said. “I actually think we have a special relationship that continues to get deeper, and I think it will with David and Randy Hunt (the new chairman of the Hall of Fame’s board of trustees). If our owners are more actively involved in the entire planning process and focus, I think our support going forward is not just showing rah-rah support, which we will, but we’d also like to play a role in how this comes out, and do it in a way that will be good for the Hall of Fame, for Canton and for the NFL.”

2019 NFL DRAFT

How long the project takes become reality is a guess, and not even an educated one. While Baker and Lichter seemingly make it clear that a hotel and conference center are a focal point, a master plan will be developed off the feasibility study.

However, the NFL has indicated Canton is on a short list of cities to host the 2019 NFL Draft, which would kick off a year-long celebration leading up to the NFL’s centennial celebration in 2020 with its first event of the new league calendar — the draft — right in the birthplace of pro football. Is Canton a viable host city for the centennial celebration kickoff?

“The reality is with better facilities, the obvious answer to that one is yes,” Goodell said. “But this vision is much broader than that. It’s not just a single event. It’s how do we align our interests together and do more together? Clearly, David has been very open about the fact he’d like to get most of this in place by the time of our centennial year. I think that’s a great focus. He works pretty hard toward his goals, and he achieves them.”

But the idea of building a Hall of Fame Village to host one draft isn’t the driving force.

“You don’t build something like this just for Easter Sunday,” Baker said.

Baker, former mayor of Irvine, California, served on the planning committee for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. He said that, 30 years later, area schools and communities there still are benefiting from hosting the Olympics because of facilities that otherwise would not have been built.

“I think this is our Olympics,” Healy said. “Canton 2020 is something that could be incredibly grand for us. This could be the catalyst that makes it our Olympic experience for a community our size.”

Baker praised the cooperation from all entities working together. The NFL’s support is another key to making this development go.

Goodell and Baker are not strangers.

Goodell has always referred to Baker by his first name. The two have known one another for close to 15 years. Their friendship has grown from Baker’s days as the Arena Football League commissioner, and Goodell’s time as then-NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue’s top assistant. Goodell and Baker would meet for lunch or dinner at least once a month near the league’s New York offices.

“We are completely supportive of this type of development,” Goodell said. “Obviously, there is a lot of work to do. David has laid out a specific focus to further the game, with youth football and corporate excellence, that’s the kind of environment that we try to operate on a global basis, and I personally believe that kind of vision puts Canton on the global stage for the game of football.”

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todd.porter@cantonrep.com

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