The Pro Football Hall of Fame took a multi-level P.R. hit on Tuesday, with the leak that former Browns and Patriots coach Bill Belichick did not qualify for the 2026 enshrinement class and the ensuing firestorm of criticism. On Wednesday, the Hall of Fame hit back, with a vague and non-subtle threat that members of the selection committee could lose their privileges.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the full statement:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Pro Football Hall of Fame understands and respects the passionate reaction of many fans, media members and enshrinees of the Hall itself in light of published reports regarding the voting results for the Class of 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s that very passion that propels the game. The Hall also respects the members of the Selection Committee when they follow the selection process bylaws. It is an honor to serve as a selector. <\/p>\n
\u201cEach year, the Hall reviews the selection process and the composition of the 50-person Selection Committee. If it is determined that any member(s) violated the selection process bylaws, they understand action will be taken.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat could include the possibility that such selector(s) would not remain a member of the committee moving forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe selection of a new class is the most important duty the Hall of Fame oversees each year, and the integrity of that process cannot be in question.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear which bylaws may have been violated. Largely because the bylaws aren\u2019t available for public consumption.<\/p>\n
The entire debate traces to the fact that Belichick spoke to others about the fact that he was excluded from the incoming class. Belichick was supposed to say nothing to anyone, once he was informed that he didn\u2019t make it. Others, apparently voters, thereafter spoke off the record to ESPN.com about the deliberations. And multiple voters have revealed their votes publicly, more than a week before the announcement of the incoming class.<\/p>\n
Whatever bylaws were or weren\u2019t violated, the Hall of Fame should treat lightly. The 50 voters work for free. They devote many hours and years of accumulated expertise to the process, and they get nothing in return. The voters (at least the ones with, you know, jobs that entail actively covering the NFL on a daily basis) don\u2019t need the hassle.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a strange flex for the Hall of Fame to huff and puff about a problem that was created not by the voters, but by a spurned finalist who didn\u2019t honor the commitment to keep his mouth shut. If the Hall of Fame has a problem with what has happened, they should take it up with Bill Belichick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pro Football Hall of Fame took a multi-level P.R. hit on Tuesday, with the leak that former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-436049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}