USA Football, the national governing body of America's favorite sport on youth and amateur levels, has partnered with the Sports Museum of America (SmA) as a Founding Sports Partner.
USA Football now joins fellow national governing bodies of sports, single-sport halls of fame, museums and other sports organizations across North America as a Founding Sports Partner of the Sports Museum of America (SmA), www.sportsmuseum.com. Scheduled to open in New York City next Wednesday, May 7, SmA is the nation's first and only museum to celebrate all sports. Filled with original films, state-of-the-art interactives and an iconic collection of memorabilia, SmA will richly showcase the history, grandeur and significance of sports in American culture through great sports stories of courage, education and triumph.
This exciting partnership introduces a new audience to America's favorite game. "When it comes to ‘America' and ‘sports,' nothing captures our imagination like football," said USA Football Executive Director Scott Hallenbeck "Being a Founding Partner with the Sports Museum of America provides a special home for USA Football. Football represents ‘working class, working together,' and that's what America is all about."
"The Sports Museum of America is extremely pleased to have USA Football join our more than 50 exclusive sports partner organizations to create the first comprehensive museum of sports," says Founder and CEO Philip Schwalb. "Football plays a big part in our culture and in virtually every home in America, and we're honored to count football greats Harry Carson, Pete Dawkings, Doug Flutie, Archie Griffin, Paul Hornung, and Anthonly Munozamong our honorary Board of Trustees. We'll also be the new home of the legendary Heisman Trophy and annual presentation and we look forward to sharing football's tremendous legacy with our millions of visitors. USA Football, based near Washington, D.C., is a great organization, and we'll encourage our guests to find out more information about them in our Hall of Halls gallery."Under the terms of the partnership, USA Football will provide archival football materials from the 2007 International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Senior World Championship, held in Japan last July. Artifacts include two USA Football jerseys worn by Team USA, which was coached by John Mackovic , as well as a game-used football and a Gold Medal awarded to each Team USA member. Other USA Football memorabilia will be sent on a rotating basis for the projected one million worldwide annual visitors to SmA. Likewise, joint promotional efforts will be undertaken by both partners and SmA will make an annual donation to support USA Football.
SmA is widely anticipated to be a vibrant new addition to the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan by significantly increasing commercial and tourist activity in the area.