Reactions to the news have skewed heavily toward outrage, from some of the biggest names of the football world and beyond. Making the situation even more contentious is an opaque and complicated voting process that might have incentivized some voters to leave Belichick off their ballot.
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The decision to reject Belichick in his first year of eligibility for the Pro Football Hall of Fame came down to the selection committee, a room of 50 people, all media members from diverse backgrounds with representatives from all 32-team media contingents. Some members have been respected reporters for decades. Some were Hall of Fame players and coaches themselves.
For enshrinement, Belichick needed at least 80% approval (i.e. 40 voters). That means at least 11 people voted against him.
There has been enough tension that the Hall of Fame released a statement Wednesday hinting that any violation of its bylaws could lead to repercussions for voters, including removal from future committees. Belichick is not named in the statement.
(Lance King via Getty Images)
We still don’t officially know who voted for or against Belichick. We weren’t even supposed to know he didn’t make the cut until the announcement of the 2026 Hall of Fame class next week, but ESPN opted to report the news early. It’s unclear if the full voting breakdown will ever be revealed.
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However, several voters have taken it upon themselves to tell the public that this isn’t on them, a rare step in a usually secretive process. Yahoo Sports has compiled all available statements from the voters to break down how all 50 members of the selection committee appear to have voted.
Confirmed ‘yes’ votes (23)
Polian requires elaboration, as he was initially reported by ESPN to have made the case in the voting room that Belichick should have to wait a year as penance for the cheating scandals that happened under his watch. Polian immediately denied that claim, then lightly walked that back by admitting he wasn’t 100% he voted for Belichick, then confirmed he voted for Belichick.
It’s also worth noting that several members of this group have called for the full votes to be revealed and to reform a process in which they could choose only three of Belichick, Patriots owner Robert Kraft and senior players Ken Anderson, Roger Craig and L.C. Greenwood.
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Implied ‘yes’ votes (3)
Additionally, Mike Chappell of Fox 59/CBS 4 (Indianapolis Colts) and Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area (San Francisco 49ers) both retweeted Sando’s above tweet confirming he voted for Belichick and breaking down the voting process that led to this outcome. We won’t treat that like a confirmed “yes,” but it seems to imply they were on the “yes” side.
Confirmed ‘no’ votes (1)
Gregorian became the first voter to outright confirm he voted against Belichick. In a Wednesday column with the Kansas City Star, he explained he didn’t vote against Belichick (and Kraft) so much as for the three senior players up for enshrinement: Anderson, Craig and Greenwood.
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Gregorian said he believed all five of the candidates were deserving, but was concerned that the three players would have to wait much longer than Belichick, like many other senior candidates. It’s a system he believes should change:
All of that went into why I felt duty-bound to vote for the richly deserving seniors, who most likely won’t ever have a hearing again as more senior candidates enter the pool and fresh cases get made for others.
Meanwhile, Belichick is inevitable soon … as he should be. At the risk of contradicting my own vote, really, he shouldn’t even have to wait. I understand why people are offended that he isn’t going in the first moment he can.
In the end, though, I felt more compelled by what I perceive to be last chances and looming lost causes within the system as we have it — a system I hope the Hall will see fit to change now.
Other “no” voters obviously had different reasons.
Salguero, one of the “yes” voters, has published an account claiming there were voters in the room who voiced their concerns about Spygate before the voting. However, other accounts have indicated there were few enough of them that the outcome was still a big surprise.
Gregorian made very clear Spygate didn’t influence his decision.
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Declined to say (6)
We should make clear here that a voter’s presence in this section absolutely does not mean they are a secret “no” vote. Voters typically don’t reveal their votes until after the class is announced and some of these guys are sticking with that. You can read their reasoning in each of the above links.
Unknown (17)
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Darryl Ledbetter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta Falcons)
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Geoff Hobson, Bengals.com (Cincinnati Bengals)
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Rick Gosselin, Talk of Fame Network (Dallas Cowboys)
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Jeff Legwold, ESPN/ESPN.com (Denver Broncos)
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Paul Gutierrez, Raiders.com (Las Vegas Raiders)
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Howard Balzer, SiriusXM NFL Radio (Los Angeles Rams)
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Mark Craig, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Minnesota Vikings)
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Joel Bussert, retired, NFL Office (at-large)
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Tony Dungy, NBC Sports “Football Night in America”(at-large)
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Dan Fouts, Broadcaster (at-large)
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Clark Judge, Talk of Fame Network (at-large)
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Ross Ketover, NFL Films (at-large) *
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James Lofton, CBS Sports (at-large)
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Alex Marvez, SiriusXM NFL Radio (at-large)
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Lisa Salters, ESPN “Monday Night Football” (at-large)
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Jim Trotter, retired, The Athletic (at-large)
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Barry Wilner, retired, Associated Press (at-large)
As far as we can tell, there have been no public statements from any of these voters. When factoring in Gregorian and assuming no one has been misleading or outright lying, at least 10 of the people in the above two fields voted against Belichick.