The basketball Hall of Fame is close to announcing a major change to the election process and is working on a revolutionary alteration as chairman Jerry Colangelo pushes forward with his pledge to increase transparency and fan interest.
For the first time, vote totals are expected to be released when the Class of 2010 is revealed next Monday in Indianapolis in conjunction with the Final Four. The class is expecetd to be headed by locks Karl Malone and Scottie Pippen.
Colangelo is hopeful the new plan, expected to be formalized within days, will lead to greater conversation about the merits of a candidacy, similar to the debate that often surrounds the baseball Hall of Fame. That, in turn, would lead to greater interest in the Springfield, Mass., museum of professional and amateur basketball. He also believes the changes will lead to an increased understanding of the nomination process, the subsequent campaign (which includes review by two separate boards) and the actual selection.
Fan involvement may begin as soon as next season with the groundbreaking move to include public balloting. That may spark an emotional connection that didn't exist before, but it will come at the risk of turning off insiders worried that the Hall of Fame will turn into a popularity contest.
I think the transparency is a good idea, at the very least it would be interesting to see which way the votes go and which players are unanimous selections for induction. Fan voting...well, it seems a lot of people don't have a high opinion of the Hall of Fame anyway and we can already speculate on the politics that are keeping certain players from being inducted so I suppose many people would say it's not like it's ruining a good thing. For the most part the Hall honours individuals who deserve to be recognised and I don't think fan voting is going to mess that up, like the MVP voting it's probably only going to count for one vote so few worthy inductees are going to get snubbed so in that respect I don't think it's a problem. On one hand it's a good move to increase fan interest but having said that I think for a lot of people it's going to prove their point in their disdain for the Hall of Fame and weaken its credibility.
