Nearly eight months after Bill Belichick was shockingly not elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on first ballot, the Hall has changed its voting procedures to ensuresuch a snub does not happen again.
The Hall of Fame did induct an incredible class featuring star players such as Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly, Adam Vinatieri and Roger Craig. But Belichick, a six-time Super Bowl champion and arguably the greatest coach in NFL history, not making it in on first ballot put a stain on the Hall’s voting process, and led to outcry for the system to be overhauled.
In the previous voting system, there was the vote on modern-era player candidates and then a separate vote on coaches, contributors (i.e. owners, referees, commissioners) and senior candidates (players that have been retired at least 25 years). In the latter, members of the committee voted between a total of five coaches, contributors and seniors.
To be elected for the Hall, a candidate in senior, coach and contributor pool had to receive 80% of the votes (or 40 out of 50), and between one to three of those candidates could be elected each year. While Belichick should have been a unanimous selection, a number of voters prioritized voting for senior candidates that had been waiting decades to make it into the Hall instead, and Belichick fell one vote shy of the 40 necessary to make it in. After such a mistake, the Hall is overhauling the voting process once again.
Related: Bill Belichick and the Most Prominent NFL Coaches Snubbed By Hall of Fame on First Ballot
"The Hall of Fame's selection process has always been guided by integrity, thoughtful deliberation and a commitment to honoring those most deserving of football's highest individual honor," Hall of Fame president Jim Porter told ESPN. “We believe these changes both augment what has worked well while addressing opportunities to further strengthen a tradition that means so much to the game and everyone who loves it.”
Here are the changes coming to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s voting process, per Mike Sando of The Athletic:
- The selection committee will be reduced from 50 voters down to 25. There additionally will be three nonvoting members who will have their voting status decided on each year. The new 25-member committee has not been announced by the Hall yet.
- The selection committee will meet in person again during the first week of February. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the panel has met virtually.
- They are getting rid of the senior category, which was established in 1972 for players that have been retired at least 25 years.
- The new committee will select three to seven candidates from a group of 15, which will include 13 players, one coach and one contributor. Like before, the group will be reduced to 10 candidates and then to seven. Members of the committee then must vote for six of the seven remaining candidates to be inducted, and each candidate that receives at least 20 of 25 votes will be elected for enshrinement.
- Candidates will now be presented to voters by someone who is not on the committee. Previously, candidates were presented by the voter from the market most closely associated with their career. (i.e. a Hall of Fame voter from the Cleveland area presenting Joe Thomas’s candidacy to the rest of voters).
The Hall of Fame moving the voting process back to an in-person meeting in early February notably comes after the snubs of Bill Belichick and Eli Manning were leaked in January, well before the class of 2026 was announced.
The Hall’s previous change to the voting system in 2024 led to smaller Hall of Fame classes. While these latest changes could increase class size again, they also could make it more difficult for senior players to be enshrined, especially now that there is no longer a senior category.
Ultimately, the effects of the new voting system will not be clear until February when the class of 2027 is announced. The new committee will have tough decisions ahead as retired players such as Rob Gronkowski, Adrian Peterson, Ben Roethlisberger, Alex Mack, Richard Sherman and Antonio Brown all become eligible for the first time. Hopefully, the committee ensures Belichick’s name doesn’t miss the vote this time around.
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EVA GEITHEIM
Eva Geitheim is an NFL writer at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in December 2024, she wrote for Newsweek, Gymnastics Now and Dodgers Nation. A Bay Area native, she has a bachelor’s in communications from UCLA. When not writing, she can be found baking or rewatching Gilmore Girls.
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