Come Thursday night, devoted Cleveland Browns fans will anxiously watch what their team does with the coveted No. 1 and No. 12 first-round picks in the NFL Draft.
Come NFL Draft night in 2019, millions of anxious pro football fans around the nation might have their eyes on Canton to see who their teams will pick out of that year’s crop of top college players.
That’s when much of the Johnson Controls Pro Football Hall of Fame Village is scheduled to be finished — ideally in time to host the NFL Draft that year and then in 2020 play a significant role in the league’s 100th anniversary of its founding in Canton.
Elected officials in the Stark County city last week approved the bulk of the estimated $600 million project that will add a luxury hotel, retailers, living spaces for retired players, offices, multiple sports fields, a small indoor arena, water park and more to the current football museum and renovated stadium. The development will require knocking down more than 30 homes in the next-door residential neighborhood.
Much of the village will incorporate gee-whiz technology developed in part by some of Hollywood’s most imaginative minds and in part by Wisconsin industrial technology company Johnson Controls, which paid more than $100 million to attach its name to the project for 18 years. A key goal is to make the village a high-tech “smart city.”
While ground officially breaks Tuesday on the luxury hotel, the project’s developers already are planning a second hotel, while eyeing land where visitors can stay in recreational vehicles. From start to finish, it could take as long as 15 years for the whole thing to be fully developed.
The far-from-complete village has already booked significant sporting events.
Just last week, the NCAA awarded Division III football championships for 2020 and 2021 and the 2022 Division III men’s volleyball championship to the Canton site.
A Disney for Ohio
People behind the scenes enthusiastically use the word “Disney” in describing not just the on-site sports and other entertainment but also in the impact the 100-plus acre development just off Interstate 77 could have in transforming Canton and Northeast Ohio. The goal is to attract millions of people here each year from outside the region.
It’s not just about bringing in millions of football-loving tourists with disposable income, although that’s a big part of the project’s appeal.
There will be eight fields that can handle football, soccer and lacrosse for youth sports activities and camps. Parents will be able to watch online using video technology that follows their kids around.
It’s a big enough deal that Donald Trump, as president-elect, visited the site on a trip to Canton and got an overview of the project just weeks before he was sworn into office.
The village is expected to attract businesses from around the nation for meetings and conferences on the property, likely with one of the 170-or-so living pro football hall of famers, each known as a Gold Jacket, as a featured speaker.
That’s a significant reason why Johnson Controls, a global company with $37.7 billion in sales last year, paid big bucks last year for naming rights to the village. The development will serve as a showcase for the company’s “intelligent buildings” and energy efficiency technology.
“They are going to bring global clients here,” Pro Football Hall of Fame spokesman Pete Fierle said. “They will use this as their virtual showroom.”
The hall of fame’s board of trustees was expanded to include a top Johnson Controls executive, Kim Metcalf-Kupres. She is the company’s chief marketing officer and its point person on the project.
The company has worked with the hall of fame for decades, she said, including incorporating Johnson Controls’ technology in the museum’s recent renovations.
Advanced technology
The village will be a “smart city” that uses the company’s advanced data and analytics, connectivity and efficiency that is integrated into infrastructure to keep fans safe and comfortable, Metcalf-Kupres said.
“We have been an integral part of the design and construction team for some time,” she said.
The village will incorporate Johnson Controls’ technology for HVAC, building automation, security, lighting, fire protection, information technology and communications.
“Putting our name to this project represented a unique opportunity for Johnson Controls to connect our brand with a great institution that shares similar objectives and values like honoring the past, building a future driven by innovation and celebrating excellence,” Metcalf-Kupres said. “The partnership gives Johnson Controls the ability to showcase our brand and solutions beyond Canton. Working with the hall of fame, we will be present at events like the Super Bowl along with engagement of hall of fame players at events we will host around the country.”
Ray Hexamer, president of the nonprofit Stark Development Board, thinks the village can have the same kind of impact here as Disney World had on Florida. The economic development organization administers bond financing of the Stark County Port Authority, which is providing some of the money on the project.
“You become a destination,” Hexamer said. “These are folks who come from outside the area and spend money.”
A big hope is that many visitors to the village will stay for a couple of days and explore elsewhere in the area, he said.
“When you have a brand like the NFL, it’s an asset nobody else has,” Hexamer said. “This is a unique asset Stark County can leverage.”
Regional attraction
The village should help the region attract and retain businesses as well, he said.
Rick Rebadow, executive vice president of the Greater Akron Chamber, is among the economic development officials outside of Stark County keeping close tabs on the village.
“We see that as a very impactful project,” he said. “We see it as an opportunity for regional tourism and regional collaboration. ... I like the attitude of it. I really like the aggressiveness of maximizing its potential. This is a whole other dynamic for the region. It changes the perception of people who visit here. It adds a new element to the DNA of the region.”
An economic impact study commissioned as part of the project estimates that over 25 years the village campus will bring in $10 billion in spending to Stark County. More than 13,000 full-time and part-time jobs are expected to be generated in the project’s peak year.
The most Disney-esque aspect of the village, called the Hall of Fame Village Experience, will have as many as six attractions that will reflect the creativity of Immersive Artistry, a company whose brain trust includes people who developed special effects for Hollywood blockbuster movies.
David Baker, the hall of fame president, also likes to talk about how the development will reflect the values represented by the football hall of fame.
Baker said the new Game of Life exhibit now open at the museum provides a glimpse of what will be coming to the village. The exhibit, developed in conjunction with Immersive Artistry, is a holographic locker room where the likenesses of hall of famers Joe Namath, Vince Lombardi and others address visitors.
“It’s not something that’s under glass. It is something that tells a story,” Baker said. “It is a football locker room. And it is stories told by football players. ... But the stories, to be honest with you, are not football stories. They are stories about the lessons of football.”
The game teaches commitment, integrity, perseverance, teamwork and even love, Baker said.
“Those are universal values,” he said. “And it is so much fun to see our Gold Jackets here talk about them.”
The Pro Football Hall of Fame deals with inspiration, he said. The village intends to support that inspiration.
“This vision to me is part of this overall purpose,” Baker said. “To me, there are a lot of times it looks almost like a calling or a divine purpose, if you will. It’s not like we’re pulling a wagon, it’s like we’re following a path that’s led out for us.
“Because what I think what you’ve got here in Northeast Ohio,” he said, “is the Church of Football.”
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him @JimMackinnonABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/JimMackinnonABJ