Pro Football Hall of Fame Game

Pro Football Hall of Fame Game

Fawcett Stadium before the start of the 2006 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game
Recent and upcoming games
2016 season
Cancelled (Planned: Green Bay Packers vs Indianapolis Colts)
2017 season
Dallas Cowboys vs Arizona Cardinals

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game is an annual National Football League exhibition game that is held the weekend of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's induction ceremonies. The game is played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, which is located adjacent to the Hall of Fame building in Canton, Ohio. It is traditionally the first game in the NFL's preseason, marking the end of the NFL's six-month offseason.

The two teams that play in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game are typically selected by the league in advance of the remainder of the preseason schedule. The participants are usually announced around the time that the new Hall of Fame members are announced, which coincides with Super Bowl week. Often if a particularity notable player will be entering the Hall of Fame that year a team they were strongly associated with may be selected to play in the game to help maximize attendance and publicity of the game itself. Since 1971, the opponents for each game have traditionally included one AFC team and one NFC team. In 2009, as recognition of the 50th anniversary of the American Football League, the game paired two AFC teams who were part of the "original eight" franchises of the AFL, the Tennessee Titans (dressed as their previous incarnation, the Houston Oilers) and the Buffalo Bills, whose owner, Ralph Wilson, was inducted into the Hall that year. An all-NFC matchup was scheduled for 2011, but it was canceled due to the 2011 NFL lockout; the following year, another intra-conference matchup of two NFC teams took its place. Since 2011, each of the two teams in the game has had at least one prominent alumnus being inducted into the Hall that year.