The Pro Football Hall of Fame, the ultimate destination for those who play and coach the game, is finally about to open the doors at Canton, Ohio, to those who run the game, too. The move is long overdue and welcomed by those around the NFL — and it also is certain to create a storm of controversy.

Of course, controversy is not necessarily a bad thing. The Hall recently completed a huge renovation, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, and hired as its new executive director David Baker, a man with a reputation for promotion.

So why not do something to get the suits (executives) and stopwatches (scouts) into the building, too?

Why not, indeed?

Two so-called “contributors” from a list of 11 nominees will be chosen on Wednesday by a nine-person subcommittee of the Hall’s selection board. Those two still will face scrutiny from the full board that votes the day before the Super Bowl and, judging by history, it is hardly clear that they will receive the 80 percent vote needed for election.

What is clear, however, is this: Whomever the nominees may be, however qualified they are, the debate will be long, loud and divisive.

The group of 11 includes Paul Tagliabue, the former commissioner, and three present or former owners — the San Francisco 49ers’ Eddie DeBartolo, the only owner to hoist the Lombardi Trophy five times, the Denver Broncos’ Pat Bowlen and the late Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens owner, Art Modell.

The list also includes former supervisor of officials Art McNally; the late Steve Sabol, former head of NFL Films; four retired general managers, Ron Wolf, Bobby Beathard, Bill Polian and the late George Young; and former Dallas Cowboys vice president of player personnel Gil Brandt.

A little history is in order here.

Ever since the Hall opened its doors, everyone — coaches, players, administrators and others — had to undergo the exact same process and go into the same voting pool (except for the old-time players, whose careers ended at least a quarter-century prior but were not selected).

This seems eminently fair, doesn’t it?

Well, maybe.

Many among the 46 members of the selection committee feel strongly that players deserve priority. Some even said publicly they could not vote for a non-player over a player, despite the Hall of Fame by-laws that make everyone equal. As a result, contributors have had about as much chance of getting voted into the Hall of Fame as scaling a snowy mountain in their bare feet. Maybe less.

Since 2000, only two contributors — Ed Sabol, Steve’s dad and the founder of NFL Films, and the late Ralph Wilson, owner of the Buffalo Bills and an American Football League original dating to 1960 — have been chosen for election. Both men were in their 90s when they finally made it.

It is not that contributors couldn’t get a hearing under the old system, in which 15 men — on- and off-the-field nominees — made the finals and a maximum of five of them were elected. They got into the finals, but their candidacies just couldn’t get any traction competing against players.

Tagliabue, DeBartolo and Young were three-time finalists, Modell a two-time finalist. The other seven contributor nominees this week never even made the final 15 in the past.

DeBartolo is the most recent of the candidates, getting into the final 15 the last three years under the old system. He may have been the model owner, building a dynasty, beloved by players and fans alike and also responsible in large measure of kick-starting the NFL’s minority coach hiring program. However, his reign as the 49ers owner ended in controversy, and some voters hold that against him.

Tagliabue presided over unprecedented labor peace for 17 years, which is worth something. However, recent disclosures about concussion and what the NFL knew or should have known has tarnished his image, and some still can’t understand why the NFL abandoned Los Angeles on his watch and settled in cities like Jacksonville instead. Further, Tagliabue is known to be unpopular among many of the media members who vote.

Young rebuilt the New York Giants from the ashes, presided over two Super Bowl champions and headed the league’s competition committee for years. He was an extremely popular figure, and he got plenty of notice in the league’s biggest market. But some wonder if he had done the exact same job, in say, Charlotte, whether he would have gotten so much attention.

Modell was reviled for moving the Browns from Cleveland to Baltimore after he got heavily into debt, but before that he was one of the leading lights in the NFL’s marriage with television that had much to do with the league’s soaring popularity. Passions probably have not cooled enough to give him a decent chance at Hall election.

The unknown is how the nine-member subcommittee will come down on the candidates because so many of them never even have been discussed in the meeting room before. Logic dictates that the three guys who were three-time finalists under the old system — yet never got to the up-or-down vote stage — should get the first consideration now.

There is particularly strong support for DeBartolo. Tony Dungy said DeBartolo “changed the face of ownership in the NFL,” and even former Giants coach Bill Parcells, the 49ers’ major protagonist in the ’80s, weighed in with an endorsement.

“Tell me who did more,” said Parcells, himself enshrined just over a year ago. “Nobody won more, that’s for sure. I really believe he should be in the Hall of Fame without question. I think he was tremendous for the league.”

Well, the polls open on Wednesday, but the final answers will not come until Super Bowl weekend. Kinda like the stuff on the field, too.

–Ira Miller is an award-winning sportswriter who has covered the National Football League for more than four decades and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee. He is a national columnist for The Sports Xchange.