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NEW YORK: World-renowned for its art museums and galleries, New York
on Wednesday launches a museum heralding artistry of the sort that
happens on the pitcher’s mound or the tennis court.
The city’s newest cultural institution, the
Sports Museum of America in Lower Manhattan, is a high-tech temple
honoring professional athletes and athletics, a glittering new
$100-million installation likely to draw visitors by the tens of
thousands.
“It’s a totally unique and
never-been-done-before animal,” said Philip Schwalb, the
museum’s CEO and founder, as he talked up the venture recently.
“It’s not like any museum you’ve been to.”
Other US sports museums hail the achievements of
individual athletic pursuits—unlike the Baseball Hall of Fame at
Cooperstown, New York, for example—but organizers say this is the
first to herald all of professional athletics under one roof.
Most of its rotating collection will be on loan
from nonprofit museums and individual athletes.
The honorary board of trustees for the venture
includes boxing great Joe Frazier, tennis superstar Martina
Navratilova and Indy Race car legend AJ Foyt, to name just a few. A
number of sports superstars were due to take part in Wednesday’s
opening ceremonies.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the
city’s newest destination also will play a key role in the
continued recovery of the area following the devastation of the
September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
“This museum is important for the rebirth of
Lower Manhattan. I predict one million will visit it the first
year,” Bloomberg said.
The building is just a stone’s throw away from
other prime New York attractions including the ferries that take
millions of tourists to the Statue of Liberty.
Admission to the multimedia venture—set at $27
for adults and $20 for children—gives visitors access to hundreds
of sports memorabilia, photos and artifacts in 19 separate
galleries, all donated by sport halls of fame, museums, individual
athletes and private collectors.
The museum also houses the Billie Jean King
International Women’s Sports Center, the first-ever hall of fame
dedicated to female athletes and coaches.
The museum also now will be home to the famed
Heisman Trophy, college football’s top honor, first awarded in
1935.
Future winners of the prestigious honor will be
awarded the trophy at the Sports Museum of America each December,
beginning later this year.
-- AFP
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