New York welcomes first museum to celebrate pro sports

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-dollar 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," he said.

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 non-profit museums, and individual athletes.

The honorary board 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 dollars for adults and 20 dollars 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.

"From the moment you step through our doors, you will be immersed in an intimate, multi-sensory environment where you can relive your favorite goose-bump moments in sports history - thrilling athletic feats, record-setting triumphs, and heartwarming and heartbreaking stories that transcend sports," the museum promotional literature promised.

The interactive exhibitions will allow visitors to experience a 120-mile per hour (190 kilometer) slapshot hurling toward a hockey goalie -- from the athlete's point of view. Another display has a simulated NASCAR racetrack with cars roaring by on floor-to-ceiling screens.

"If you're going to spend 100 million dollars, you're obliged to make it very innovative, very interactive, very cutting edge," Schwab told reporters.

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.