Sports Museum of America Closes its Doors

The Sports Museum of America billed itself as being unlike any other sports facility. But last week, it met the same fate as tens of thousands of other businesses.

Less than 10 months after its grand opening in New York City, the museum closed its doors Feb. 20. A message on the museum’s answering machine said the facility “will be closed until further notice.”

The Sports Museum of America billed itself as the “the nation’s first and only all-sports experience” and became home to the Heisman Trophy. It opened last May.

Philip Schwalb, the museum’s founder and CEO, had secured $93 million in financing for the project. The museum had items on hand from several amateur and professional halls of fame, other museums from basketball, football, hockey, NASCAR, the Negro Leagues, USA Track & Field, the Women’s Sports Foundation and others. In addtion, rare pieces of memorabilia were on loan from some of the leading collectors in the hobby.

The museum has been cutting admission prices in recent months, including $10 for adults and $5 for kids during Super Bowl weekend.