BRACK: Area will benefit from College Football Hall of Fame

MARCH, 10, 2015 — Call the building “The Helmet,” for that’s what it looks like, a three-story football helmet, painted orange. It’s located on Marietta Street across from the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and adjacent to the Georgia World Congress Center.

Its official name is the College Football Hall of Fame, and Atlanta landed a gem of a tourist attraction with this facility. For years the College Football Hall of Fame has bounced around at several locations, the most recent being in downtown South Bend, Indiana, certainly a football haven. But it wasn’t located near the University of Notre Dame, and suffered from lack of attendance.

It opened in Atlanta in August, 2013, a $68 million structure. Both Atlanta and Dallas were picked by the Hall of Fame board to bid for its location, and Atlanta, with help from several major corporations, won this bidding war.

The College Football Hall of Fame is open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. (on Saturday it opens at 9 a.m.). The best time to go is during the middle of the day, though it never seems crowded at any time. The Hall limits attendance to 1,200 at any time, though its size will allow up to 3,000 in the Hall.

Perhaps the most extraordinary feature of the Hall is the interactivity which is built into every visitor’s experience. When entering, you get a badge to wear with a microchip embedded in it. As you register, you wave the badge at the computer, and it remembers who you are. Each time you approach an exhibit, the badge tells the exhibit your name, which then lights up on screen with: “Welcome, Elliott.” Now it is ready for your interactivity, remembering what you score on each exhibit.

You also pick at registration your college football team. Later when you visit a 60 foot wide screen on the second floor, you see many, many football images on it. As you approach the giant screen, your alma mater’s football pictures appear in front of you! Amazing! That continues as you tour the other second floor exhibits.

On the third floor the members of the Hall of Fame are enshrined, by school. Again, your badge tells the exhibit to show your school members. You can also check out other Hall of Famers at other colleges. And do you know which college has the most members of the Hall of Fame? (Think…….answer below.)

The one experience most visitors to the Hall remember is on the first floor, where a full-sized goal post allows visitors to try to kick an extra point. Several employees are there to help. It’s fun to watch kids and grown-ups, some quite aged, try to kick a field goal, often getting nowhere. It’s harder than you might imagine. There’s plenty of room for kids to romp and play in this first floor area. And of course, there’s the not-to-be-denied gift shop as you leave the Hall.

The Hall of Fame is Atlanta’s newest tourist attraction. Even if you are not a football fan, it’s worth a visit.

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The college with the most members of the Hall of Fame? That will be Notre Dame.

And which college has the most national championships? You’ll have to visit the Hall of Fame or do your own research to learn that!