The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. announced Friday it is rescheduling the enshrinement ceremony for the Class of 2021 to May 2021 and moving the ceremony to Mohegan Sun.
The Hall was hoping to be able to hold the ceremony in October of this year if conditions with the coronavirus pandemic allowed, but now the Hall said it would move the event to 2021.
The new dates are May 13-15. The event is being moved to Mohegan Sun instead of being held at the Hall.
“For this single event, and only because of the pandemic, we will relocate the entire event one time to Mohegan Sun which has been a long-time marketing partner of the Hall," said John Doleva, President and CEO of the Hall of Fame in a press release. "Mohegan Sun has shown they can effectively operate a ‘near-bubble’ for our event which provides a more secure environment for our guests,” Doleva explained. “In making this announcement today, our goal is to provide this date and location change with ample notice for our network broadcast partners, nationally and internationally traveling guests and the many basketball constituents the Hall serves.”
The Basketball Hall of Fame also announced it has eliminated several full-time positions and cut compensation 25-40% for senior management as revenues decline amid the pandemic.
“These are people who have been a big part of the Hall’s success in recent years; it hurts deeply,” said John Doleva, President and CEO of the Hall of Fame. “The decision to reschedule Enshrinement into May of next year, along with diminished museum guest visitation and a very uncertain future regarding our multiple collegiate and high school basketball events this fall, has forced us to make these very difficult decisions. Our goal now is to conserve resources so that we may stabilize in 2021 and return to our growth trajectory in 2022 and beyond.”
The Class of 2020 includes: Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Eddie Sutton, Rudy Tomjanovich, Tamika Catchings, Kim Mulkey, Barbara Stevens and Patrick Baumann.
