when do you become eligible for the nfl hall of fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame To be eligible for the nominating process, a player or coach must have been retired for at least five years. Any other contributor such as a team owner or executive can be voted in at any time.[9]
Pro Football Hall of Fame Game 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 particularly 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. From 1971 to 2010, the opponents for each game usually 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,[1] but it was canceled due to the 2011 NFL lockout; the following year, another intra-conference matchup of two NFC teams took its place. From 2011 onward, each team selected to play in the game has had at least one prominent alumnus being inducted into the Hall that year.