Hall of Fame ready to show new look
Workers wearing black masks and white gloves move through the corridors of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, pushing a cart loaded with high-top sneakers from some of the sport’s biggest stars.
The gloves are to protect the collection; the masks are to protect each other.
The staff is putting the building back together after a $22 million, top-to-bottom renovation that ended during a pandemic that is forcing the hall to rethink what a museum can be. Visitors will notice the changes — not just the new items and the way they are displayed, but also the ways the hall is being retrofitted for the coronavirus era.
“We will be opening up with a 100% new, complete experience,” hall President and CEO John Doleva said. “We’ll see what level of travel people have (in mind), in terms of jumping in the car and where they’re going to want to go first. We really want to be one of the first things on their list.”
Originally scheduled to come back online May 1, the hall pushed the date back to July because of the coronavirus outbreak. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday cleared the state to move on to Phase 3 of the reopening plan, which includes museums, and the new hall will welcome its first visitors on July 8.
The hall has used the extra time to get ready.
Staff returned to the building last week for the first time in months for training on the new exhibits and procedures.
Among the changes designed to limit the spread of COVID-19 are timed tickets that will limit crowds in the 80,000 square feet of exhibits. A theater that used to have a capacity of 196 people will be limited to 29, with seats marked to facilitate social distancing.
Hands-on displays are now hands-off: Visitors will be given stylus pens so they don’t actually have to touch the touch screens; some displays are covered in plexiglass. Cleaning crews will disinfect other high-touch areas, including the basketballs that fans can use to shoot at peach baskets like the ones James Naismith nailed up in 1891 at a Springfield YMCA.
Spread throughout the floors are signs with basketball stars spreading their arms wide, encouraging visitors to stay six feet apart. (Anthony Davis’ wingspan is 7 feet, 6 inches — a little extra safe.)
“When this museum was designed, it was very digitally heavy and very touch screen based, which is incredibly exciting for the visitor,” said Jason Fiddler, a hall vice president who gave a reporter a tour last week. “But in terms of safety precautions with COVID-19, obviously that poses some significant challenges.”
It’s not just the infection control measures that are new.
In place of the plaques covering the building’s dome — the centerpiece of the old museum tour — inductees now have their names etched on glass panels in a Hall of Honor. Forty monitors show video and photos, while four touchscreens allow fans to pick Hall of Famers and go deep on their career.