Pla Mor Pigskin: College Football Hall of Fame rebrands

Chick-fil-A is making sure that downtown Atlanta remains the epicenter of college football.

The definitive interactive museum dedicated to collegiate gridiron glory has rebranded as the Chick- fil-A College Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF), a partnership symbolically christened today during a ceremony unveiling new signage featuring the fast food giant’s iconic red-and-white-logo.

Officials from the CFHOF, Chick-fil-A, Atlanta government, the National Football Foundation and hall of fame-inducted quarterback Danny Wuerffel gathered on the Marietta Street sidewalk outside Centennial Olympic Park, counting down and pushing the button to reveal new signage adorning the 94,256-square-foot attraction that’s a part of the Georgia World Congress Center Authority’s (GWCCA) 220-acre campus.

In its fourth year of operation in Atlanta, the new sponsorship arrangement was announced in April, and ensures that the CFHOF stays here long-term.

The building sits on the former site of the GWCCA’s Green parking lot, and the land is leased to Atlanta Hall Management, the non-profit that operates the CFHOF. Also, the hall’s management office is inside the Georgia World Congress Center’s Building A.

Homegrown Chick-fil-A, of course is no stranger to the $65.6 million project, being one of its original backers in relocating the shrine to college football from South Bend, Ind. to Atlanta. The attraction already included the Chick-fil-A Fan Experience on the 2nd floor, and there’s a football-themed Chick-fil-A restaurant adjacent to the building.

Meanwhile, the hall of fame is part of downtown Atlanta’s claim to college pigskin preeminence, and specifically the GWCCA campus. It can be traced back to 1994 with the SEC (Southeastern Conference) Championship Game’s relocation to the Georgia Dome and was cemented earlier this year when the College Football Playoff National Championship was played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (MBS) with ancillary events across the GWCCA campus and nearby facilities.

Chick-fil-A has also been instrumental in establishing Atlanta as a college football hotbed, being the title of sponsor of the Peach Bowl – played at the Georgia Dome for 23 years before transferring to MBS – along with the highly successful Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, established at the Dome before moving to MBS.