CANTON: Hey, Canton, are you ready for some football?
The answer from the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a resounding “yes.”
Just don’t mind the dust, as the hall of fame is shovel-deep in a multiyear $500 million project to reinvent itself — from within to its appearance from the highway.
Working as if it is the fourth down and the final seconds are ticking off the clock, crews are scrambling around the complex this week to prepare for next weekend’s hall of fame induction festivities.
Literally taking center stage at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, Steve Strawbridge, hall of fame vice president for merchandise sales, said the newly renovated north side of the stadium is nothing like its former self.
For one, it has the widest concourse (it was once a city street) just below the stands that can also serve as a festival space.
The stadium now boasts 104 points of sale for everything from T-shirts to popcorn, compared to just 30 last year.
The field was lowered by some 14 feet and the north stands were shifted some 40 feet toward the hall of fame.
“We have been able to bring these closer together to create a campus,” said Kevin Shiplett, hall of fame vice president of operations and facilities.
But the real star — aside from the newly minted hall of famers and the exhibition game — is the large stage area. It is billed as the largest dedicated stage area in the NFL, straddling both sides of the 50-yard line in the north stands.
Being situated so close to the hall of fame makes it possible for this year’s enshrinement class, which includes Ohio-born former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr. and iconic former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, to simply stroll into the stadium from the hall and be right onstage.
The stage area, with its large removable sound and light scaffolding, can be transformed back into a more traditional football setting in about 10 hours once the collapsible seats are rolled back into place.
“This is really a one-of-a-kind facility,” Shiplett said.
And for those concert performers who like their privacy, a tunnel has been built below the fan plaza that is linked directly to the hall of fame.
The north stands section also has six “green rooms,” where performers and NFL officials can relax before the game or a concert.
Among the first to try out the new cushy digs — complete with private bathrooms, couches, cable, wireless internet and tables for ample food and snacks — will be country star Tim McGraw at his performance Aug. 5.
In the past, concert performers at the hall of fame were forced to use off-site trailers or makeshift rooms at nearby McKinley High School.
Strawbridge said McGraw’s tour folks scouted out the new digs and moved up his arrival time for the concert because it will be a comfortable resting spot for him and his entourage.
Shiplett said the hall has worked closely with the performers — including past acts like Aerosmith — so the new stage area and supporting equipment and dressing room facilities will work for them.
“It just sells, sells, sells and sells,” he said.
With the first snap of the football Aug. 7 when the Indianapolis Colts and Packers take the field, Strawbridge points out just 7 percent of the transformation of the site will be complete.
Once the game is over, work will shift to the south stands, including a new press box, luxury suites and premium seating areas.
Work will also begin in earnest on additional regulation football fields for youth tournaments and a new indoor training and educational facility that will include yet another regulation field, but this one will be indoors.
There are also plans for the Hall of Fame Village that will include retail space, a large football-themed restaurant and bar and a Shula’s — part of a chain run by former coach Don Shula, another Ohio native. The retail area will be anchored by a 243-room luxury hotel nestled close to the hall of fame.
“It’s unbelievable the buzz that has been created by just the small amount that has been done so far,” Strawbridge said.
The hall hopes that all the work to gussy up the place will help it land the NFL Draft in either 2019 or 2020.
David Baker, hall president and executive director, said the effort coupled with improvements inside of the hall — including a new hologram locker room experience and a new display of the most comprehensive football card collection on public view — should make this year’s hall of fame week extra special.
“This is the Disneyland of football,” Baker said.
Craig Webb can reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.