Is Cooperstown The Ultimate Sports Experience? – Forbes

With my father’s recent passing and this weekend’s Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony I was reminded of one of the greatest sports experiences I ever had. About five years ago I took my dad and father-in-law to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. As the Author of The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live and being in the business of creating hospitality experiences around major sporting events for close to twenty years, I have had the good fortune to attend many events.

The Baseball Hall of Fame trip I took might have been one of my all-time favorite sports related experiences. It is probably somewhere between seeing the New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup in 1994 and watching the Yankees with my dad win the 1996 World Series. My dad played baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers Tobacco League affiliate in Smithfield, North Carolina in the late 1940’s. He grew up in the Bronx as a New York Giants fan. One thing we always shared was our love for playing and watching baseball. It was a common thread that made our trip to Cooperstown special. Baseball is such a great connector between generations of Americans that makes for a trip to the Hall of Fame something that can be shared together by children, parents, and grandparents.

The Hall of Fame is one of the most amazing places in America to visit, but it is not easy to travel there. The trip has been especially challenging for former players like Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, and Sammy Sosa, accused of cheating at the game for years. For everyday fans hoping to make the pilgrimage to the symbolic birthplace of baseball, it is quite a drive and in a location that is hard to get too.

Typically, no matter who is being inducted in a given year, the Hall of Fame invites myriad of Hall of Famers to welcome the new members of the club to the general public in a free outdoor ceremony that takes place on the Sunday of Hall of Fame Weekend. This year’s list of returning legends includes Hank Aaron, Bob Gibson, Cal Ripken, Jr., Nolan Ryan, Ozzie Smith, Reggie Jackson and several other baseball greats.

Attendance to the induction ceremony also gets a boost since it costs nothing to attend, but it certainly is not easy getting hotel accommodations in Cooperstown. Some of those who show up commute, but fans looking to make a full four-day weekend out of the experience need to get themselves a hotel well in advance, and there simply are not enough of them in the area. That makes getting reservations difficult, even in a slow year.

Back in 2013, for example, when the only three inductees were relative unknowns who died before 1940, hotels were still completely booked up in the weeks leading up to the Hall’s great four-day weekend. According to Brad Horn, Senior Director Communications and Education at the national Baseball Hall of Fame, they still brought in over 10,000 patrons to the museum that weekend.

On a good weekend, like this year’s is slated to be with Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Craig Biggio, and John Smoltz all earning inductions, the Hall can bring in 15,000+ patrons, which is a massive number of people considering the size and accommodations available in Cooperstown.

For those that can get themselves a bed in town for the weekend, it is a non-stop ride through everything that makes baseball such a fun, historic sport. On Friday, there is a baseball game played by some of the more spry legends, while on Saturday there is a parade and awards ceremony. Sunday is the induction ceremony itself, while Monday features a “Legends of the Game” roundtable discussion featuring the four new inductees.