How long american football game last

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Skip to content. The kickoff to one team usually follows a quick commercial break. An incomplete pass from the quarterback to their target A touchdown and or field goal that allows the team to celebrate for a bit in the end zone Calling a timeout When a team commits a penalty like offsides, pass interference, too many players on the field which needs the referee to stop a play Instant replay reviews Halftime breaks between the first half and the second half Punts that stop the clock after the receiving team either runs out of bounds, is tackled, or scores a touchdown.

Discover Membership. Editions Quartz. More from Quartz About Quartz. Follow Quartz. These are some of our most ambitious editorial projects. As we have mentioned throughout this article, in recent years, the year with the longest average game length was when the average game length was 3 hours and 9 minutes. It is no coincidence that is also the highest average of penalties per game in recent years. In there was an average of For comparison, in the average was Both and seasons had average game lengths at least two full minutes shorter than When a penalty flag is thrown by a referee, the play is blown dead via whistle and the referees convene.

The call is then transferred to the head referee who turns on his microphone and announces the penalty to the stadium crowd. Then the ball is moved to reflect the outcome of the penalty. This process can easily take a minute, or maybe even longer. There are times where the referees will have conflicting calls or have differing opinions on what happened. There also are situations where there are two separate penalties on the same play that the referees must sort through.

Coaches also slow down the penalty process when they argue or ask for explanation. Penalties are necessary to ensure that games are played by rule, but an abundance of penalties kills game flow and hurts fan experience. The NFL works with both referees and players to try to reduce penalties as much as possible and to keep the game flow crisp and entertaining for fans.

This is easier said than done. Games that involve teams that like to pass the ball on offense will typically last longer than games that involve teams that like to run the ball on offense. This is due to the fact that the game clock stops on an incomplete pass. Games that involve more total passes will see more game-clock stoppages than games with a lot of running plays, which ultimately will result in a longer game. Pace of play is also a factor. Some teams prefer to run most of the play clock down before snapping the ball whereas other teams like to play up-tempo and snap the ball as quickly as possible to try and tire the defense.

Teams that let the play clock drain before snapping the ball will play longer games. There occasionally will be games that have an in-game delay due to an imminent weather threat. Delays like this are usually caused by lightning being close to the stadium. Weather can also shorten the length of a game by altering the style of play to a heavy run attack. Extreme snow or rain storms make the football hard to grip and throw. This will cause teams to run the ball a lot.

As we discussed above, a run-heavy offensive attack results in less game-clock stoppages and shortens the overall length of a game. Replay reviews are a valuable part of modern football. In the NFL today, certain calls can be reviewed by instant replay if a coach thinks the referees made an incorrect call. Replay review was adopted into the NFL in While replay reviews have improved the sport and helped assure that the right call is made, it also has resulted in longer games.

A back-and-forth highly contested football game will often last longer than the average football game. If the score is close late, the team that is behind will use timeouts to preserve game clock to try and get the ball back to score. They will also get out of bounds or spike the football to stop the game clock when they have the football on offense. Because of this, these types of games generally drag out near the end and can easily eat up an extra 30 minutes of time before the game ends.

There are occasions where this happens before the half too. If a team is driving to score, they will use their timeouts to preserve clock. This does not happen every game and is dependent on how many timeouts the team has, how close they are to scoring, and if the coach likes the matchup of his offense versus the opposing defense enough to try and score quickly against them.

Primetime stand-alone games like Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night stand a chance of lasting a bit longer than regular Sunday NFL games. Some primetime games may have extra pregame festivities. Part of the difference concerns the basic rules of American football. Unlike hockey or basketball, the minute clock in football can run even when the ball is not in play.

That means a lot of game time is spent standing around or gathering before each playthrough begins. A few years ago by the Wall Street Journal, 11 minutes of action was famously calculated.

Its analysis shows that the average NFL broadcast spends more time on replays 17 minutes than it does live. Much of the time 75 minutes is spent watching the players, coaches and referees essentially loiter on the pitch.

The average game in the NFL lasts only four seconds. Of course, watching football on TV is hardly just the game. There are also lots of ads to show people. The average NFL game consisting of 20 commercial breaks contains more than ads. The stop-and-go nature of football makes it especially important for advertising, unlike football, which forces broadcasters to creatively insert ads during the minute run of the game.

Broadcasts of NFL games in Europe, incidentally, include much less advertising. The game clock is responsible for the length of a football game. The clock management in the NFL game is the main reason why a game takes so long to complete. Whenever there is a change in ownership, the clock stops and the sides change personnel, alternating between their man offensive and defensive units.

Often, these stoppages while the clock stops are marked by commercial breaks as the NFL makes the most of its vast global reach. The average game has about 12 assets per team, with each change often welcoming a wave of TV commercials. Factor in about two video reviews of controversial calls, penalties, three timeouts for each side, where they can choose to stop the clock and take a break with two minutes remaining at the end of each round and obviously to see the number of ads how the break time significantly increases the time to complete the game.

As mentioned, the average NFL game takes 3 hours and 12 minutes to complete, but this can vary considerably. In , a game between the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts broke the year record for fastest NFL game, finishing in 2 hours and 33 minutes while some games are known to last as long as nearly 4 hours.

How can these times vary to such an extent? Several factors speed up or slow down the game.