RON CHIMELIS
The Springfield Republican
SPRINGFIELD (AP) — When John Doleva became chief operating office of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000, and its president and CEO a year later, he considered it a dream job.
By 2008, it looked more like the Impossible Dream. As Springfield celebrates the Enshrinement of its Class of 2015, the Hall of Fame president and chief executive officer looks back on those days as a way of appreciating better times today.
“We like to say we’ve changed the tires on the car as it’s gone around the race track. It’s been a long slog,” says Doleva, who supervises what he always dreamed about — a solvent Hall of Fame.
Even today, Doleva says the most draconian ideas were discussed primarily to alert the trustees that the situation required attention. But however close they were to actual practice, the proposals were ominous — sale of the Hall of Fame (possibly to foreign investors), a relocation out of the city where basketball was invented in 1891, bankruptcy filing and even the selling of memorabilia and artifacts, much of which had been donated specifically for display to fans.
By 2009, Doleva was having Monday meetings to make sure the Hall of Fame could make payroll. But that was then.
The Hall of Fame, a nonprofit institution, is now turning a $750,000 surplus (which in nonprofit terms means cash before bank obligations) on an annual business of between $6 million and $6.5 million.
Unlike other sports museums, the Basketball Hall of Fame honors the entire sport, not just its professional tier. Major League Baseball and the NFL receive support their sport’s halls in Cooperstown, N.Y., (where the shrine receives project-based subsidies though not direct financial infusion) and Canton, Ohio, but the Naismith Hall retains independence and honors women, international stars, college and other levels in addition to the NBA.
“The NBA respects us. They don’t dominate us. Ours is a different relationship than with other halls,” Doleva said.
The sustainability of the Hall of Fame is at its highest level since the doors of the first of the Hall’s three buildings opened modestly on the Springfield College campus in 1968. That it is succeeding today is a minor miracle, but it is not an accident and has all the elements of staying power.
“We opened this current building (in 2002) about $7-8 million in debt. For a nonprofit to open in debt is unheard-of, almost suicidal,” Doleva said.
Part of the problem stemmed from faulty projections that preceded the opening. To say those forecasts were overly optimistic would be a gross understatement.
The Hall of Fame draws about 200,000 visitors per year. That is far below the projections of more than 400,000 that Doleva said was supplied by an outside consultant.
It soon became apparent that the higher figure, which required an average of more than 1,000 visitors a day, was wildly unrealistic. Current attendance may look modest compared to those numbers, but it is sufficient.
“Admissions account for 18 percent of our revenue, so we are not admission dependent,” Doleva said.
Faulty attendance estimates were not the only problem that greeted the 2002 opening. Projected as the centerpiece of a riverfront entertainment and retail complex, the Hall opened “to us and a lot of empty space,” Doleva said.
Building maintenance costs were double the estimates. Potential revenue from capital drives were overstated to a ridiculous degree.
There was bad luck, too. In 2008, Doleva attended a splashy ceremony in New York heralding the National Sports Museum, a new entity that entered into a marketing agreement with the Naismith Hall.
“I sat next to Bob Cousy. We were expecting a $500,000 check that November,” Doleva said.
Within six months, the National Sports Museum was bankrupt.
“We had a piece of paper worth $3.5 million that disappeared. That was the bottom,” Doleva said.
What had already been dragging the Hall of Fame down was debt load.
By 2008, the bank debt was still nearly $5 million. The Hall of Fame negotiated a new refinancing deal at more favorable rates with Florence Savings Bank, and the debt is now $3 million and falling.
As it negotiated the deal, Florence Savings Bank also became interested in corporate partnership, which was not initially part of the talks.
“They became enthused. They rented space for an ATM. Then they began investing in basketball-related events,” Doleva said.
Climbing out of a financial pit was not the Hall of Fame’s only challenge. The shrine for a global game was not known for doing things in a first-class way.
There was talk of alternative basketball halls of fame, possibly including an NBA-sponsored facility. The Springfield hall needed to become an active part of the basketball community, not just a wistful reminder of its 19th Century origins.
“When I came, it was clear we had to improve our relations with our Hall of Fame members,” Doleva said. “At our first Enshrinement (after he took over), seven Hall of Famers committed to coming back for the ceremonies, and four actually showed up.”
Why should they? The Hall of Fame expected the sport’s immortals to pay their own hotel costs. Plane fare did not generally extend to spouses.
Improving that situation would cost money at a time the Hall of Fame had vendors hounding them for overdue bills (a situation that has also been cleared up). Without a respected place within the sport, however, the Hall of Fame was doomed.
This week’s 2015 Enshrinement ceremonies, ending on Saturday, Sept. 12, were expected to attract 54 living Hall of Famers, in addition to the incoming 11-member class that includes John Calipari, the Kentucky and former University of Massachusetts coach.
Families are invited. The cost of creating a first-class environment was not an expense, it was an investment.
“Our Hall of Famers want to feel engaged. Some give philanthropy. Many give their time,” Doleva said.
When the Hall of Fame sponsors basketball events or golf tournaments, either in New England or places such as Florida or Arizona, a stable of legendary basketball names participate. Well-heeled fans pay up to $7,000 to play in a golf foursome with the stars.
Doleva thanks many people and corporate sponsors for the turnaround, but he doesn’t mind singling out Jerry Colangelo, an executive at many levels and organizer of a 2002 fundraising drive that that helped save the Hall.
Colangelo, who is now chairman of the Hall of Fame’s Board of Governors, agreed to campaign among NBA owners and executives for Hall of Fame support. More than 20 of the 30 teams contributed, sending millions into dry coffers.
“That gave us some breathing room. It was a godsend,” Doleva said.
The breathing room diminished a few years later, when bankruptcy talk was floated. Without the NBA fund drive, however, the Hall of Fame probably would not have even made it that far.
Doleva knows that within Springfield, there is sensitivity regarding the Hall of Fame’s sponsorship of events outside the city. Of the 29 events now run under the Hall’s auspices, only six are in its hometown.
Without the others Doleva said the Hall of Fame could not support the events it does host in Springfield. One of the most popular events is local: the annual Hoophall Classic, the nation’s best high school basketball tournament, which is played each January.
“That’s a way to connect to the young demographic. The kids who come here realize the Hall of Fame is not just about a bunch of old guys,” Doleva said.
Many of those high school players become college stars. Each year, about a dozen are drafted by NBA teams. These are the Hall of Fame’s new, young ambassadors.
Corporate partners include the Mohegan Sun, which hosts Saturday’s Enshrinement Weekend activities at its flagship casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Aware that a competing casino will be opening within walking distance of the Hall of Fame, Doleva noted that the Hall’s agreement with the Mohegan Sun runs until 2018, the year MGM Springfield is expected to open.
In other words, he is saying, no need to worry about that now. But Doleva cannot be faulted for appreciating the Mohegan Sun deal, and he does – though he has pledged never to move the actual enshrinement ceremony out of Springfield.
Doleva sees a bright future on West Columbus Avenue. A $20 million capital campaign has already raised $11 million and is ahead of its Dec. 31, 2016 target date.
Doleva said up to $10 million will be invested in the museum, with refurbishing planned by 2018. The Hall of Fame will also set up a rainy-day fund.
That fund will represent more than just an endowment, he said. It is proof of how far this sports museum, which was staring at bankruptcy not long ago, has come.
“We really have come 180 degrees,” Doleva said. “We have turned it around. I remember 2000 and 2008, and we will never be in that position again.”
