Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

from PFHOF press release today:

quick look at changes:

-voters reduced from 50 to 28 (17 at large + PFWA representatives), 25 voters, 3 non voters
-seniors and moderns in one category together
-coaches and contributor continue with each category
-voter no longer selected to make individual presentations at election meeting-one non voter will present each finalist
-finalists will consist of 13 players+1 coach +contributor
- new slate of voters will be announced after all current 50 voters are told of their status-continuing or removed

https://www.profootballhof.com/news/pro ... 7-election

-seniors and moderns in one category together

WHAT?

some more details

Selectors will vote to reduce the group from 15 candidates to 10 to seven during the meeting, the same as before. Selectors then must vote for six of the final seven. All candidates receiving at least 20 of the 25 possible votes (80 percent) will be enshrined that year. between 3 to 7 total could be elected

Sounds like the end of seniors getting voted in to me. I feel if a senior cant get voted in, neither should a contributor.

There are enough Moderns already who will dominate the voting.

so 2027 could look something like this: 13 players + coach (BillB) + contributor (Kraft)..reduction vote to 10 and then 7.....25 voters each select 6, total of 150 votes, finalist needs 20 to be elected (80%).... gives us Gronk (25)/BillB (24)/AP (22)/Suggs (22)/DWoodon(20)/Yanda (20)/WAnderson (17-not elected) at best end up with class of 5 moderns+BillB??

Change to the Contributors:

The Contributors category has been expanded and now may include tenure as a player and/or coach along with other contributions to the game.

This is to address guys like Clark Shaughnessy and Doug Williams, who have appeared in two different categories in the same year.

yea but good luck going up against 13 players and a strong coach candidate...going to be very hard to be among the final 7 with chance at election

Eliminating seniors is a huge blow. At first I was happy to see the committee size being reduced, but unless the people on the new committee care about NFL history, seniors will have an incredibly difficult time getting in.

yea and it could be that if the new 25 voters are a lot different mix then the past 50, the results for players from 200 to 50 to 25 to 13 finalists could be much different than 2026 results...plus the risk of falling into the seniors pool disappears

I was going to crowd source some notable points that are the same or different, partly for people to quickly catch up on all that has happened but also for my future self as I will surely forget and/or mix this up in the coming months.

1) Voters trimmed from 50 to 25 voters + 3 non-voters
1b) Non voters are similar to a Jury pool, they can become voters if needed
1c) no longer does each franchise get a rep, instead voters are viewed as 'at large' with 24 voters + 3 non-voters + 1 voter the PFWA rep (President?)
2) No more Senior pool, instead ALL players are grouped together
3) A HOF rep takes care of presentations, it is unclear if the same rep does ALL the presentations but I -think- so
4) When voting, they pick 6 names from final 7 (instead of 5 like years prior)
4a) Voters HAVE to use all 6 votes, can't abstain and do fewer
5) Contributors can get credit for prior playing career and/or coaching along with greater contributions to the sport
6) The Final 15 = 1 Coach, 1 Contributor, 13 Players (from any era)
6a) The coach and contributor subcommittees still exist and are responsible for selecting the coach/contributor Finalists
7) Players still need 80% votes for induction, which is 20 of 25, note still 20 if only 24 voters are in attendance
8) After this upcoming election, the top seven Finalists do not automatically 'revive' to the top 15 like years prior
9) No more zoom meetings, back to in person meetings
10) For induction, between 3 and 7 yearly members -- likely same tie breaking rules as years prior but unknown
11) Voting status will be determined annually -- (I think this technically was always the case?) but given the fireworks of cutting the body in half perhaps it means they will take a much more hands on approach to curating the 28.

Please provide any additional line items that would be useful and any important but unknown components