HOF Village LLC, the owner of the sports, entertainment and media enterprise surrounding the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, has acquired the remaining 50% ownership rights of Youth Sports Management LLC, a joint venture established between HOFV and Legacy Global Sports in 2016.
Within the past year, the Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Village youth sports complex has hosted over 200,000 athletes and spectators through nine months of programming provided over 36 weekends. Investing in the continued growth of the youth football and sports complex's events and youth engagement activities is a core tenet of HOFV's multi-pronged strategic plan. After jointly managing the YSM organization over the past four years, HOFV intends as its singular owner to further develop the business and apply its best practices to strengthening youth sports programming at Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Village.
"Bringing YSM's operations entirely in-house positions HOFV to develop overall youth programming as well as attract and operate additional sporting events and activities,” HOFV CEO Michael Crawford said in a statement. “With the completed acquisition, HOFV continues to expand upon the popularity of football in building a leading sports and entertainment company with exclusive live youth content.”
Crawford added: "Our team at HOFV appreciates and values the power of sport to positively impact youth, and we couldn't be more pleased to enhance programming at our youth sports complex and expand the youth sporting activities that we offer our community and those visiting the Hall of Fame Village. The continued growth of our youth sports business will prove a critical driver bringing our vision to life as we begin the second phase of development at Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Village.”
In September 2019, HOFV entered into a definitive business combination agreement with Gordon Pointe Acquisition Corp. Upon the closing of the transaction, the combined company will change its name to Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Co. and trade on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol "HOFV."
