What’s next after Pat Bowlen nomination for Pro Football Hall of Fame?

Aug 23, 2018, 4:26 PM

Owner Pat Bowlen hugs Gary Zimmerman of the Denver Broncos during the Class of 2008 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Fawcett Stadium on August 2, 2008 in Canton, Ohio. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

(Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter called it a “great day” for Pat Bowlen, his family, and Broncos Country following the announcement he’d been nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Thursday.

“Pat Bowlen is … on the doorstep of the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Schefter said.

But the process to put Bowlen through the doors in Canton and into the Hall have just begun.

David Baker, president and CEO of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, told “Stokley and Zach” on Thursday that the contributors subcommittee spent nearly six hours reviewing the 10 finalists for the nomination before settling on Bowlen and longtime Dallas Cowboys executive Gil Brandt.

Next, Baker said Bowlen and Brandt join senior finalist Johnny Robinson and 15 modern era finalists as a group of 18 to be voted on by the 48 selectors the Saturday before the Super Bowl (Feb. 2).

That group will be whittled down to between four and eight new members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“What Pat will need to do on that Selection Saturday is get 80 percent of the vote of those 48 selectors and he’ll be a Hall of Famer,” Baker said. “You never know what’s going to happen. That’s like a 10- to 12-hour day of debate. But I would think that he has got every opportunity and should be a Hall of Famer.”

And the odds seem to be in Bowlen’s favor, with only one of the six contributors not being elected — former commissioner Paul Tagliabue — since the subcommittee’s inception in 2015.

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.