Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium

• 1. A Field in Canton

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  Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium opened in Canton, Ohio in 1938. In its first year, a player named Marion Motley scored the very first touchdown ever recorded on its turf. The stadium was then called Fawcett Stadium. The name honored John A. Fawcett, a former member of the Canton board of education who had died before the building was finished. Motley went on to become a Pro Football Hall of Famer. In 1946, he and fellow Hall of Famer Bill Willis broke the color barrier in modern professional football while playing for the Cleveland Browns. The building that held his first score was not the product of private ambition. It was a project funded by the federal government during the depths of the Great Depression.

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• 2. A Federal Foundation

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  Construction ran from 1937 to 1939, with the total cost estimated at $500,000. The federal government contributed $400,000 through the Works Progress Administration, whose workers provided the labor. A school board bond issue covered the cost of materials. When the stadium opened, its original capacity was 15,000 spectators. That figure made it the largest high school stadium in the United States at the time.

  On the grounds surrounding the new building was a companion space called Stadium Park. Part of that parkland was later taken over to build the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Interstate 77 was eventually built through what remained of the park, permanently separating it from the stadium.

  The stadium's wooden seats and aging electrical infrastructure would be among the targets of the $4.3 million renovation launched in 1997.

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• 3. A City's Home Field

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  McKinley Senior High School is the stadium's current football home team in Canton, one of five local programs that have played their seasons there. The Lincoln Lions, Lehman Polar Bears, and GlenOak Golden Eagles have also used the field. The Canton Timken Trojans complete the list of five teams. Between 1991 and 2014, Ohio's high school football state championships were divided between this venue and Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in Massillon. Since 2017, all of the state football championships have been staged in Canton.

  Malone University played its home football games at the stadium from 1993 until the school discontinued the program after the 2018 season. Walsh University used the field from 1998 to 2022.

  Each summer, the stadium also hosts the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, the first exhibition contest of the NFL season.

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• 4. Renovation and Recognition

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  In 1997, the Canton community backed a renovation that committed $4.3 million to the aging facility. Workers laid new Astroturf with a player-friendly rubber base and rebuilt the locker room facilities. A scoreboard with a graphics display screen went in, along with new lighting, a new sound system, and updated electrical services. The wooden seats received vinyl caps, and the press box was renovated. The facility took on a new name: Pro Football Hall of Fame Field.

  That same year, the stadium became the home of the Victory Bowl, the football championship of the National Christian College Athletic Association. The event ran through the 2000 season. In 2002, The Sporting News rated the stadium the number one high school football venue in the United States.

  In 2009, the stadium hosted the inaugural IFAF Junior World Championship of American Football, drawing sixteen national teams from around the world. The IFAF World Championship came to Canton in 2015. On the 24th of February, 2021, the Women's Football Alliance announced a multi-year agreement to stage its championship weekend at the stadium.

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• 5. Tom Benson's Gift

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  Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints, pledged $11 million to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The donation was announced on the 24th of November, 2014. Of that total, $10 million was set aside for renovating the stadium. In response, the Hall of Fame announced that the facility would be renamed Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. The renamed stadium was dedicated on the 3rd of August, 2017. Benson died less than a year after that ceremony, on the 15th of March, 2018.

  After the 2015 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game concluded, demolition of the older structure began. Construction limited seating capacity during the fall football season that followed. The final phase of construction was planned to begin after the 2016 Hall of Fame Game. About an hour before kickoff, however, that game was cancelled. Workers had applied improper paints to the field to create the Hall of Fame logo. The resulting surface was too dangerous to play on.

  The renovation was part of the approximately $200 million first phase of the Hall of Fame Village development project. When construction was complete, the stadium held 23,000 spectators and featured an NFL-caliber press box.

  The stadium went on to host the United States Football League's inaugural postseason in 2022, after scheduling conflicts at other venues shifted the event to Canton.

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• 6. Strange Days

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  On the 29th of August, 2021, Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium hosted a high school football game between Bishop Sycamore and IMG Academy. IMG Academy won by a score of 58-0. In the aftermath, the existence of Bishop Sycamore as a legitimate school came into serious question. The program was accused of deceiving ESPN into broadcasting the game as a genuine high school contest. Head coach Roy Johnson was fired following the game, and an arrest warrant was issued.

  The Pittsburgh Maulers and New Jersey Generals were both assigned to play their 2023 USFL home games at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. The USFL later merged with the XFL to form the United Football League. Neither the Maulers nor the Generals survived the merger. The United Football League placed its games in the home cities of its surviving teams, leaving Canton off the schedule. Hall of Fame Village officials pursued the 2024 United Football League championship game but lost the bid to The Dome at America's Center.

  The Stagg Bowl, the NCAA Division III football championship, was played at the stadium on the 17th of December, 2021. The bowl is scheduled to return in both 2025 and 2028.

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