The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

This place is just awesome. If you’re military, you get in for free, so that saves you $ 22. I was hoping for more things like artifacts played in actual games… the coolest thing there were the «rules» by Naismith.

Making the pilgrimage to the mecca of basketball is a MUST if you are a fan of the game and are around Springfield.
I was in the area for my wife’s college reunion and decided to kill some time by taking a taxi here. It’s a little bit out of the way to get to, but once you get here, you’ll go through a truly remarkable sports experience. I really enjoyed the time that I spent roaming around the exhibits, taking pictures, and admiring all of the basketball paraphernalia that surrounded this gargantuan building. You’ll see all of the artifacts dating from the invention of the game to what’s currently going on in the present day. You can even shoot some hoops on the ground floor and play around with some of the exhibits. The Hall of Fame encompasses around everything basketball, so not only does it cover just the NBA, but also international hoops, amateur, and the collegiate level.
Admission is a little over $ 20 for adults and $ 16 for kids, so make the best time that you can out of it! If you happen to be in the area, try to stop by and check it out!

It’s a little underwhelming, but the Groupon got us a good deal (2 for $ 20!).
We enjoyed the stroll through the hall of inductees, and tried all the interactive exhibits. The place was surprisingly not crowded for a Saturday during school winter break. The court on the bottom level is fun, but is kind of a free-​for-​all with balls flying everywhere.
I’m glad we went but it’s probably not necessary to return.
Go Bulls!

This museum was very very disorganized. it was hard to find players that you knew were in the Hall of Fame. One of The most annoying thing was the merchandise in the gift stow. The only 76ers apparel was a extra extra large Alan Iverson T-​shirt. There is no written material about the Sixers however if you wanted to buy something about the Celtics it was all over the place. I thought it was an international Hall of Fame not a Boston Hall of Fame could’ve fooled me. I would not recommend this Hall of Fame unless you’re a Boston Celtics fan. My son lives in Vermont and I told him not to bother going there.

This was definitely a remarkable experience attending this museum today. From the timeline history, to the actual artifacts, to the exhibits and basketball court, this was a welcomed experience.
My husband really enjoys Basketball, so I decided that we should stop by the Hall Of Flame even through it was almost two hours away from where we were staying. I on the other hand am not a big sport fan in general, but I definitely enjoyed the time we spent there. I think the Hall of Fame has something to offer everyone, regardless of your age. If you happen to be close by, try to make it one of your stops while in Massachusetts!

I’d say 3.5 stars but I’ll give it four.
I have to been to all four of the major HOF’s (baseball, football, hockey and hoops). I would have to rank the basketball hall of fame 4^th on my list.
I have actually visited here twice now, and once when it was down the street back in the 90’s.
They have a lot of things to look at here, but in my opinion the history of basketball isn’t as interesting as the other sports, especially baseball.
I am not a big fan of how the players that are enshrined have their pictures up on the ceiling, rather than having something unique like baseball’s plaques or footballs busts.
That being said it’s fun to look at the jerseys and to take pictures next to all the different sized player cutouts. And the best part might be getting to shoot hoops on the beautiful court before you leave.
I wouldn’t go out of my way to get here but if you’re coming from Cooperstown and going to Boston, it’s right on the way, about halfway between the two, so you can hit up a couple of HOF’s in back to back days.

Great place if you are a super basketball fan. Lots of memorabilia, trivia, a court to play on, some cool media interactive things for kids (or adults) to do. I wouldn’t say this is a great place for very young children because it’s really not geared towards them. And any kid you do bring should be very into basketball or they will probably find a lot of the displays very boring. Plus it’s not cheap! Check the schedule on the website! Very important because they have some early closing days or days when the court is blocked off. Cute gift shop.

Had a great time at the BBall HOF. Spent about 2 hours here but it could have been longer if I read everything. Even got to shoot baskets on the big court starting with a peach basket and all the way through history to todays rim/​backboard.
I am a Woman’s bball fan so I had to say I was surprised they had so much on the Woman’s game.
It was right there along with the men’s as far as history, players, teams, coaches, artifacts, interactive and video. The only thing missing was WNBA merchandise in the store– they had zero. So I would have given it a 5 star rating but for that.
What is also nice is free parking, easy off/​on Route 91, a Subway, Max’s Tavern, Plan B Burger and Cold Stone Creamery, all in the same building, so a meal couldn’t be easier.
Yes, the tickets are expensive but we had a special rate through the local library which got us in for $ 12 instead of $ 22. I’d say look online for tickets deals for sure.

This is a new building from when I went as a kid. The new set up is very nice and clean. There are 3 levels and the top level has all the pictures of who’s in the hall of fame. There are alot of college and even high school stars that made it to the nba and this place pays homage to that too. The ticket price is a bit high but worth it if you’re here once in many years. There is also center court where you can shoot around. Sometimes there’s events that occur and they’ll close center court.

It looks like they carved this location out of a very bad section of town right by the railroad tracks. There are several high end stops and places to eat.

Traveling with three sports obsessed boys we couldn’t help but stop in here. Tickets were very expensive at $ 22.00 /​adult! The exhibits were interesting, but also lacking. I don’t need to see the swaddling blanket of James Naismith… How about something more relevant to the sport!
The interactive experience was kid friendly but I felt like I could be smacked in the face with a basketball at any second. Terrifying! The gift shop was also outrageously overpriced — most of the items could have been purchased at a sporting good store for half the price! Not that there is much to do around Springfield in the winter, but this is something I would skip given the choice!

Nice museum that explains the history of basketball. Interesting displays of various basketball memorabilia from its founding to high school, college and pro. Check out some of the sneakers, unbelievable how big they were. Depending how much time you spend reading and viewing the displays, I’d say it takes about 1 ½– 2 hours to get through the museum. Gift shop in the lobby and a few food options also (Subway, burger spot and a pub).

I thought it was very disappointing. Exhibits could be more interesting instead if cardboard cutouts of life size players. Come on! Doesn’t seem supported by NBA or NCAA.
Gift shop even seemed like the clearance rack of a normal sporting goods store.

I love basketball so I was really excited to come here but when I left, I felt so unsatisfied.
I would have liked to have given this 2.5 stars but I bumped it up to 3 because my group of friends were given the group rate discounted tickets which was really thoughtful of the person working at the ticket counter even though we didn’t have enough people for the group discount.
I really felt like this place was haphazardly built and no real thought was put into it. They basically just collected whatever memorabilia they could find and then added some «fun» interactive games. Yes, it’s kinda cool that the hall of fame is in one big basketball dome but the layout is really poor so there’s no real order when going through the exhibits besides going from the top floor to the bottom floor.
The top floor is just a picture and short description of every hall of fame inductee with a few memorabilia items. I thought it was a waste of time as the descriptions were very basic and minimal. I think they could have done a better job than just putting up pictures and short description.
The next floor is full of different exhibits but truthfully I was a bit underwhelmed with the exhibits. There was no real continuity or progression with the exhibits. I thought they could have done a much better job putting together some exhibits and maybe even dedicating some to the première players like Bird/​Magic/​MJ. I also thought they would have a lot more memorabilia but they didn’t. They had a lot of cheesy space-​fillers like an interactive video game, a hot shot shooting game that you find at Dave and Busters, a rebounding machine and a tool that measured your vertical (which was really inaccurate). Yes, the Hall of Fame should have but it would probably have been better off on the ground floor with the sort of full court gym.
Overall, I felt like I could have experienced the Hall of Fame in the comforts of my own town with a basketball court in my local park and a computer with access to Wikipedia. They could have used a lot more interactive stations or just videos and clips of inductees giving a special message or memorable plays in their career.
After writing this review, I feel as though 2 stars is a more suitable rating but the discount was nice. If I ever have kids, I would not waste my time bringing them here.

Another blast from my past. I went here as a wee lad, when it was located in a different building and was significantly smaller. And that wee lad went wee in his pants (a little) when he couldn’t find a conveniently located toilet. So… yeah, they’ve made some improvements to the layout.
I honestly care a lot less about professional basketball than I did at that age. And I kind of dislike the sport in general. (Just sayin’.) But I’ll be darned if the Basketball Hall of Fame doesn’t make me care about when so-​and-​so scored 27 points in a nail-​biter in 1952. And that interest lasts the decent amount of time it takes to mosey through the place.
Summary: Go local sports team!

Spent a great afternoon at the Basketball Hall of Fame and have to say that it was the most fun I have had in a long time. When we say we spent the whole afternoon, we literally were there forever. We spent a lot of time looking at the exhibits but spent a ton of time shooting hoops on their full court. We loved to shoot on their different hoops, and also enjoyed their free shot challenge.

The 3.5 star average that this place has is correct. If I could give it that I would, but I’ll go with four instead of three because it is worth checking out (depending on your budget). I think $ 20 for adults is a bit overpricing it for what you get. I was with a friend, we took our time, and still finished looking through the museum in under two hours.
The 3^rd floor gives you the history of basketball, both in writing and video. You also get to read about each inductee. On the 2^nd floor you get to see some memorabilia, look at other exhibits and try your hand at calling a play, and some other goofy stuff. On the 1^st floor, you get to try out your own skills on the hardwood. We were there on a weekday early afternoon and the place was dead, so I recommend doing that. I can say that I, at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, successfully:
–made a layup
–made a free throw
–made a three pointer
–made a half court shot
–slam dunked (on an 8′ rim)
–defended an offensive player
I also have a 73″ arm span and can rebound a ball as high as 9’6″.
Basketball.

From the eyes of an average consumer… not really a basketball fan…
I was taggin along for the ride over to Boston where we made the pit stop over to Springfield!
There is quite a bit to see and do here… a great place to burn a few hours!
Besides all the memorabilia of course, there is quick food, gift shop, basketball court and little activities you can do while you are here.
Cool place to check out if you are in the area!
Maybe check out Big Mamou or Theodore’s Blues Booze and BBQ for good eats before/​after!
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After Reggie Miller (my favorite baskteball player of all time) got inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame last year, I made it a point to come visit here for my birthday this year. I’m extremely happy I did as this is now one of my most memorable life events/​places.
We came here via train from Boston which seems to be the most convenient and quickest way to get here and stayed at a hotel nearby. Tickets are $ 20 each and it seems to go up $ 1 each year. Check the calendar on their website for events and for closings.
It’s next to the freeway and is about a mile or 20-​minute walk away from the train station. When you see a big dome and a tall structure with a huge baskteball on top, you’ve found the place. The first thing you’ll see when you walk in is the museum store on the right. There was a tour bus full of kids and a bunch of other basketball fans when we went as soon as they opened. It was awesome.
After presenting your ticket, you can get your picture taken against a green screen and you can choose whatever background you want but we looked tired so we skipped this part and took the elevator to take us to where I came here for. We went up, elevator doors opened and there it was… Reggie Miller’s jersey! Jaw dropped, knees turned to Jell-​O (just like when I saw Kevin Durant upclose) Aaaahhhh! I’m such a fangirl. I took lots of pictures while I was here. Jerseys, shoes, signed basketballs by basketball greats and my favorites such as Michael Jordan, Sir Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Karl «Mailman» Malone, Scottie Pippen, Hakeem Olajuwon, Cheryl Miller, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Larry Bird, Shaq, Magic Johnson, etc. Kevin Durant’s college jersey is also there.
I beat a loser at the baskteball arcade game… my counter was broken so he thinks he beat me. We played H.O.R.S.E. at the court on the 1^st floor and I beat him again but he can’t accept defeat. I don’t play games I know I’ll lose just like the Vertical Leap where you jump as high as you can vs your reach. I’m only 5′ 5″ so I didn’t bother with this. My friend did awesome though compared to the little girls that were there.
Hall of Famer, Satch Sanders from Boston Celtics was there as a guest to answer questions and sign autographs. Definitely an unforgettable experience and if you’re a baskteball fan, you must visit! I’ll come back if they have Reggie Miller as a guest or when Kevin Durant gets inducted to the HOF… if I’m not dead by then.

What else do you do when you’re in western Massachusetts?
We found ourselves with some extra time in western Mass and decided to visit the basketball hall of fame. I haven’t been to any other sports halls of fame, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. As most people have said, the price wasn’t too bad, but there wasn’t a lot to see or do. We dawdled and spend about 1.5 hours there.
There are all sorts of kitschy things to do like see how high your vertical leap is (not very high), the size of your shoe compared to professional basketball players (small) and how tall you are compared to Muggsy Bogues (tall!).
The venue is great. I can imagine that being there for an event or for an interesting basketball game would be a lot of fun — all floors of the building overlook the basketball courts in the middle of the building.