Pro Football Hall of Fame Game

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game is an annual National Football League (NFL) exhibition game in Canton, Ohio, held the weekend of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's induction ceremonies. The game is played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, part of Hall of Fame Village and located adjacent to the Hall of Fame building. The first game was played in , when ground was broken for the Hall of Fame. Team selection 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, when a particularly notable player will be entering the Hall of Fame that year, a team with which he had been strongly associated may be selected to play in the game to help maximize attendance and publicity of the game itself. From to , the opponents for each game usually included one AFC team and one NFC team. In , 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 (1960), 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 , but it was canceled by the 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.