(Getty)
Each year the the start of the NFL Preseason — the day after the year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees are enshrined — the NFL plays its first game of the season in Canton, Ohio dubbed “The Hall of Fame” Game. Unlike other NFL games, the NFL Hall of Fame Game is played in a historic high school stadium.
For the first time, the game will be played in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium (formerly named Fawcett Stadium), a venue that seats 22,000. The venue was renamed when New Orleans Saints’ owner Tom Benson donated over $11 million for renovations to the stadium.
The game annually features one AFC team playing one NFC team, and is treated as the unofficial starting point for the NFL season. Last year’s game featured the Buffalo Bills (AFC) and the New York Giants (NFC).
Here is the information for this year’s Hall of Fame Game:
Date:
August 9, 2015
Match-up:
(AFC) Pittsburgh Steelers vs. (NFC) Minnesota Vikings
.@steelers and @Vikings to open 2015 @nfl preseason in Canton on Aug. 9!
Details: http://t.co/Tm5yHrErJD
The game has existed for over 50 years. According the Pro Football Hall of fame website:
The game series began in 1962, one year before the museum opened. A NFL preseason game has been played in Canton each year but twice since that inaugural game. No game was played in 1966 as the preseason schedule was not set in time to include Canton for a neutral site game.
The Hall of Fame Game was televised nationally by ABC from 1971-2005. The game has been broadcast on NBC since 2006 except for 2012 when it was broadcast on the NFL Network.
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