A planned senior care facility next to the Pro Football Hall of Fame was trumpeted a decade ago. Today, no such place exists and the idea seems to have been dropped.
In 2014, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced plans for a $500 million development on its campus in Canton, Ohio. Included in the renderings was a senior care facility called Legends Landing. It was intended to serve aging N.F.L. retirees, including those with cognitive diseases that researchers have associated with the repeated hits to the head many football players take during their careers.
The care facility was trumpeted by N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell and Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys owner. Tom Benson, then the owner of the New Orleans Saints, committed $1 million toward Legends Landing as part of an $11 million contribution to the Hall of Fame. He also sent his fellow owners a letter urging them to match his donation.
“We can make a tangible difference in the lives of our game’s greats,” Mr. Benson said in a news release at the time. “It is important that we all play a role here.”
Ten years later, the overall development known as Hall of Fame Village has progressed, but no care facility has been built and the idea seems to have been abandoned. In the place where Legends Landing was supposed to be located there is instead a “Play-Action Plaza” amusement park, whose main features are a Ferris wheel and a zip line.
As the Hall of Fame prepares to induct a new class of honorees on Saturday, the demise of Legends Landing is another example of how the N.F.L. and its partners have grappled with finding ways to help former players. The league has been criticized for not paying older retirees fair pensions, making it hard for them to win disability benefits, and fighting claims in concussion-related litigation. Legends Landing was supposed to help change that perception.