Yesterday’s report that the Hall of Fame Game has been canceled is being denied by the NFL.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told Jason La Canfora of NFL Network that the report isn’t true, and Joe Horrigan at the Hall of Fame says that he expects the Bears to play the Rams in Canton, Ohio, on August 7, as scheduled.
“We only know what we know,” Horrigan told NFL Network’s Albert Breer. “We had not heard it was canceled (as the Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday night), so we contacted Greg Aiello through email ourselves, and he replied that it was not true. Everything, as far as we know, is the same as it was. . . . The lockout’s continuing, but no games are canceled, and that’s the information we have. That’s led us to continue to prepare as if the game is going to be played. Our preparation, at this point, is pretty much complete. There’s nothing to suggest it won’t be played, so we’re probably more anxious than anything else.”
The Sun-Times report about the game being canceled said that information came from league sources but also said Bears sources weren’t aware of the cancellation. Howard Balzer reports that the Rams haven’t been told the game is canceled, either.
So despite that Sun-Times report, it looks like the Hall of Fame Game is still on, as long as the lockout ends next week. That’s good news for Horrigan, who says it would hurt the Hall to lose the game.
“We would lose a three-hour window of prime-time TV, with an audience of 10 million, to promote the Hall of Fame,” Horrigan said. “That’s one area where we can annually promote the Hall.”