More like 1-2 hours, depending on what else I’m doing. Just silence the phone & put it away & it’s great. Sometimes I do cheat & check the score though. I did on Saturday. Got home, checked the score, and decided to screw watching the 1st half.
Newly proposed football rules…
- Thread starter NawlBennyDawg
- Start date
I can’t do that. I have to know what’s going on.
So yeah, I cheat but at least I’m open about it…
I have to agree they don't need to go overboard, but they need to do something to speed the length of the games. Games recently had ridiculous total game time.
Ok, but I have to assume that the fixed windows for ads are based on some sort of assumed avg game length that’s in the neighborhood of 3 hrs. If college football seriously considered implementing rules that kept a running clock after first downs and incompletions, I could legit see that taking a full hour out of the broadcast.
Simple answer here is just go with NFL rules. They figured this out years ago. Time outs last 2 minutes, except some called time outs that last 30 seconds. If you want more commercial revenue that that allows, start running some commercials on that annoying scroll they're running at the bottom of the screen.
I have to agree. They seem to figured it out how to control the length of the game much better.
I was going to say something similar and probably rant about it so thank you anon for doing it for me!
The article says 2022 CFB games were 11 minutes longer than NFL games which makes them 8 minutes longer in 2021 if you use the same NFL number. That just doesnt seem like a big deal at all. And certainly not a reason to totally change an on field product everyone loves.
All NFL games are televised. Most college games aren't, even today. I'd like to see the average for P5 games.
From the article:
Television commercials don’t impact game time significantly. From 2018-2020, games not televised finished only about two minutes sooner than those televised.
I’m good, except for one thing: #4 should not apply in the final two minutes of the half.
For a long time, I’ve said the clock should run once the ball is spotted after an incomplete pass outside of two minutes to go in the half. Stopping the clock until the ball is snapped after an incomplete pass for four full quarters really slows the game down and increases the number of plays in the game without providing a benefit. Starting the clock once the ball is spotted will shorten games and reduce the overall number of snaps. Doing this outside of two minutes to go in the half does not affect gameplay. But doing it in the final two minutes of the half will completely change two-minute drills.
The purpose of these changes is to shorten the games. They might say it is to shorten games for safety reasons, but let’s be real: This is all about TV. Applying #4 only outside of two minutes to go in the half will accomplish shortening games without making the games less offensive. Changing the two-minute drill in favor of the defense will actually make the product on TV less entertaining for the casual fan.
For a long time, I’ve said the clock should run once the ball is spotted after an incomplete pass outside of two minutes to go in the half. Stopping the clock until the ball is snapped after an incomplete pass for four full quarters really slows the game down and increases the number of plays in the game without providing a benefit. Starting the clock once the ball is spotted will shorten games and reduce the overall number of snaps. Doing this outside of two minutes to go in the half does not affect gameplay. But doing it in the final two minutes of the half will completely change two-minute drills.
The purpose of these changes is to shorten the games. They might say it is to shorten games for safety reasons, but let’s be real: This is all about TV. Applying #4 only outside of two minutes to go in the half will accomplish shortening games without making the games less offensive. Changing the two-minute drill in favor of the defense will actually make the product on TV less entertaining for the casual fan.
I like # 1.
#2 seems allright
#3 seems extreme. First Downs should be rewarded with some seconds to re-group.
#4 Not a fan. Incompletions are costly downs many times thrown intentionally or a spike to re-group on like field goals and such.
#2 seems allright
#3 seems extreme. First Downs should be rewarded with some seconds to re-group.
#4 Not a fan. Incompletions are costly downs many times thrown intentionally or a spike to re-group on like field goals and such.
Its network dependent, but the fixed windows are based on defined stoppages in play, not stoppages per X number of minutes of airtime. CBS has way more than ESPN, which is why their 2:30 game often runs until 6:30 or 7:00 PM.
For example, ESPN’s agreement may be 20 breaks each at 90 seconds, and they would be something like the first 8 qualifying play stoppages per half, plus 4 more at half time. Qualifying play stoppage would usually be a punt resulting in change of possession, scoring play, conventional timeout, injury timeout, or turnover on downs. Turnovers (fumbles and INT’s) typically don’t get the TV timeout treatment.
So no matter how much you shorten the game action itself, you’re never going to reduce the total number of commercials, because all those stoppages are still going to happen. Networks aren’t stupid and neither are the advertisers. They both know where their bread is buttered.
Id imagine most every game has some form of media coverage and therefore media time outs of some degree. And in reality I’m sure the overwhelming majority of FBS a games are televised to the non tv games probably don’t impact the average much
Yeah, I’m old enough to remember the radio timeouts from Learfield, etc. from the untelevised games in the 90’s. Media timeouts always happen whether there is TV or not.
Nearly ever college game is televised in some fashion. Take a look at ESPN+ on a Saturday.
20 seconds?? Heck, I’d give them 40 seconds once their eyes are inside the review booth. That would be much better than 2+ minutes.
Too many commercials. Especially for dedicated TV timeouts, after extra points, and reviews. Go to commercials during reviews and back once a decision is final. CBS is the worst about this.
See, I don’t like this. The rules for actual gameplay should never, ever be different depending on how much time is left. If you say you’re going to stop it until the snap inside of 2 minutes, you’re saying the plays that take place inside that window are more important than those outside of that window. They aren’t. Each play is the same importance. The game winning field goal to win the national championship is no more important than the field goal 3 minutes into the 1st quarter of that same game, within the context of the game clock and how it impacts the final result.
It’s no different than making a baseball rule that states a foul ball with 2 strikes counts as strike 3 in innings 1 through 8, but in the 9th you can foul off as many as you want with 2 strikes. Just horrible logic.
That’s a point, and many people may agree with it, but the two major sports with a clock (football and basketball) already have different clock and review procedures in the final two minutes.
My compromise approach does three things: shorten the game (better for TV scheduling), reduce the overall number of snaps (better for safety), and keeps the end of games as exciting as possible (better TV product). You have to think about it from the perspective of a casual fan. You are always going to be locked in to games involving your team. When it’s not your team, you want excitement. And a team behind with the ball at the end having a chance is more exciting.
There will always be sports purists, but these decisions are made with casual fans in mind, not diehards. Diehards watch no matter what.
To be clear, I am OK with different rules for reviews and other things that take place off the field in a dead ball setting inside of 2 minutes. That has merit because you can’t have coaches trying to review every single play inside of the final 2 minutes….so leaving it to the booth to decide makes sense.
Where I draw the line when the actual rules on the field for action in the game itself change based on the clock. You can’t change the rules in a way that fundamentally changes the play a coach would call in a certain situation if its 1:59 left vs. 2:00 left. That’s a bridge too far. I realize it exists already with the out of bounds clock restart times being different for inside of two minutes, but I still don’t agree with it. And I think changing the incomplete pass restart time based on time remaining is far more intrusive than that.
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