After originally postponing the 2020 Induction Ceremony from May to November due to the coronavirus pandemic, this week the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame officially cancelled the event. Instead, the Rock Hall is producing a documentary-style two hour special honoring this year's inductees which will premiere on HBO November 7th.

The Rock Hall also announced that the next live induction ceremony will be in Cleveland in the fall of 2021. They imply that fall ceremonies will become the norm moving forward after that.

The previous "induction season" typically followed this pattern over about 7 1/2 months:

1. September: The Nominating Committee meet in New York to create the ballot. Artists are eligible if they released a record 25 years prior this year.
2. October: The Rock Hall announces the nominees. Voting begins.
3. December: The inductees are announced.
4. April: The induction ceremony is held.

Assuming the Rock Hall holds onto the current eligibility schedule, "induction season" could be nearly a full calendar year between the creation of the ballot and the induction ceremony.

The current eligibility / induction years are already a source of confusion, although it at least makes sense based on when the nominees are announced (for example, Notorious B.I.G. is a first ballot hall of famer with the class of 2020, but his eligibility was based on 2019 — 25 years after his first record in 1994). If nominees aren't announced until 2021 (despite when the NomCom meets), it will feel strange to be talking about the previous year's eligibility class. With the culmination of an "induction season" now in November, It would be a lot cleaner the entire process is within a single year. This would require a catch up year where two years-worth of new artists would become eligible at the same time.

So when should we expect to see the 2021 ballot? Under the old induction season timeline working backwards from a November ceremony, the nominees should be announced in late April or early May, with inductees announced two months after that. But it seems likely the Rock Hall may stretch things out and announce nominees as early as February, with inductees announced in May. That would leave six full months to prepare for the induction ceremony.