The Congress finds the following:
(1)
The Pro Football Hall of Fame's mission is—
(A)
to honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions to professional football;
(B)
to preserve professional football's historic documents and artifacts;
(C)
to educate the public regarding the origin, development, and growth of professional football as an important part of American culture; and
(D)
to promote the positive values of the sport.
(2)
The Pro Football Hall of Fame opened its doors on September 7, 1963. On that day, a charter class of 17 players, coaches, and contributors were enshrined. Among the group were such legends as Sammy Baugh, Red Grange, George Halas, Don Hutson, Bronko Nagurski, and Jim Thorpe. Through 2012, 273 members had been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Three distinct iconic symbols represent an individual's membership in the Hall of Fame: a bronze bust, a Hall of Fame gold jacket, and a Hall of Fame ring.
(3)
The Pro Football Hall of Fame has welcomed nearly 9,000,000 visitors from around the world since opening in 1963. The museum has grown from its original 19,000-square-foot building to a 118,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, as a result of expansions in 1971, 1978, 1995, and most recently in 2011–2013. In addition, major exhibit renovations were completed in 2003, 2008, and 2009.
(4)
The Pro Football Hall of Fame houses the world's largest collection on professional football. Included in the museum's vast collection are more than 20,000 three-dimensional artifacts and more than 20,000,000 pages of documents, including nearly 3,000,000 photographic images.
(5)
The Pro Football Hall of Fame reaches a worldwide audience of nearly 15,000,000 people annually through visitors to the museum, participants in the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival, three nationally televised events, the Hall of Fame's Web site, social media outlets, special events across the country, and through the museum's Educational Outreach video conferencing programs.