Speeding Up Games

Every year people complain that there are too many ads, and the powers that be acknowledge those complaints, then end up adding even more advertising. I think it's a test to see if they can destroy football the same way they destroyed baseball, by which time they will retire with a nice nest egg and it's someone else's problem. Now, we have between-play ads, which in theory (obviously the theory of someone who hates sports) are less intrusive. That's this year's gift to the sports fan. The numbers show that sports are quite healthy, but young people don't stay tuned during ad breaks - they follow sports through apps and through fantasy sports. They don't have the same attention spans. Frankly, neither would we if football were new to us and we were trying it out for the first time. Sports leagues are getting more revenue every year. At some point, the bubble will burst and leagues will have to cut salaries and payments to owners. We don't have much of a chance of seeing real reform until that happens. So, yeah, I'd advocate cutting commercials by 50%, and maybe there'd be a chance we could hook our kids on the games. But I'm not holding my breath.

of your ideas, but the ads don't seem to be going anywhere.  

As others have mentioned, and others have shot down, not stopping the clock on every first down could certainly help speed things up.  Maybe stop it last 2 (or 5 minutes, or something) of each half.  Or at least, if it does stop every 1st down, get it started quicker.  

In terms of reviews, I understand the player safety aspect, but the targeting reviews (which seem to happen at least once per game) take what seems like forever.  

I am also not a fan of the automatic reviews that take place, like on scoring plays.  Leave that to coaches and teams to challenge.

at every change of possession...that'd be a good start

You describe a far superior product and tha will help the advertisers too.

One replay improvement would be to get the zebras on the field a bigger screen.  Those dudes are 50+, no way they can see that little thing well.  Occastonally you even see them lean back a bit.  Often hiliarious!   

I like it the way it is.

The solution is to cut out all the commercials, but that's not capitalism I guess.

If Bo were here, can you imagine what he'd say? He'd say "You can cut to commercial as much as you fucking want, but my boys will be moving the damn ball."

The longer timeouts allow me to get naps in during the game without missing any action.

should be forbidden. It definitely slows up games.

I could not believe that during The Game, between 2nd and 3rd down with no injury or other stoppage, Fox showed a split screen ad for 10-15 seconds. That is bullshit. Now they are going to interrupt the game between plays to make up for the decreased commercial breaks. We are fucked either way. It’s crap but I understand it’s a business. But viewership will decline eventually as they continue to intrude on the game itself.

I'm afraid that whatever they would do to change things would make the experience that much worse than it already is.

It's bad, but manageable.

For commercial breaks I silence the TV, go use the facilities, quickly check messages, get a beer, throw the ball for my dog to fetch a few time..   By the time I get back in, game is back on.

That's my only middle finger to the advertisers who under ultimatum expect me to sit, stare and absorb their stupid sales pitches, jingles and overt misandry.  Walking out of the room.

So no, I don't mind if things stay as they are in terms of college football games.

 

I have been a CFB fan for a long time and I’m watching less and less. This is mostly due to having young kids. Getting the time to watch a game now is a big deal for me. I still try and make the time to watch Michigan and KSU but I rarely watch much else. I’m even watching my 2 teams less. It is so frustrating having the constant commercial breaks. Now they are doing live reads and split screens. Getting beaten to death with ads while watching a choppy game with constant stoppages just isn’t how I want to spend my free time. I’ll probably still watch, but it is getting harder and harder to take the breaks. At some point, something has to give.

The TV timeouts are bad enough at home. I sat through two games this year, one at Waldo in Kalamazoo and one at Husky Stadium in Seattle, that were raining hard with temps below 40F. It was bad enough when the game was going, but utterly miserable during the iterminable and incessant TV timeouts.

Just double the cost of the ads and cut the number in half.

I'm starting with the assumption that the networks absolutely require 21 minutes of commercials each half, and nothing is going to change that.  That's where we are now--four 2m15s breaks every quarter, plus a 3-minute break betweek quarters.

So the problem is that those breaks are ridiculously long.  What's the solution?  More commercial breaks.  Hear me out, though:  more breaks, but shorter.

After every single punt or field goal miss, take a 60-second break.  Every single touchdown or field goal made, take a 90-second break.  Every single timeout called by a team, or breaks between quarters, take a 120-second break.  Running a little low on commercial time toward the end of the half?  Add 15 seconds or so to each break until you catch up.  Once you hit your 21 minutes, no more breaks that half.

If you follow these rules in the OSU game, you get almost exactly 21 minutes of commercials per half.  The breaks are shorter, so they are less obvious to people in the stadium, but there is still the same amount of commercial time to be sold.

The biggest reason games are so long these days (aside from commercials) is that there is more passing than ever, and especially more incomplete passes, stopping the clock much more often.

Several years ago they changed the rules on running out of bounds in all but the last several minutes of the half- the clock restarts when the referee sets the ball. The same should apply for incomplete passes: the game clock restarts when the ball is reset, untill the last 3(?) minutes of the half. This would make most games more uniform in length which broadcasters and fans might appreciate in terms of scheduling.

Also:
Use stoppages in play for brief one minute breaks instead of those long breaks between drives:

1. Replay review situations: what matters most is the result of the review, not what the announcing booth projects based on five different camera angles. As soon as a review is called, take a 1-minute commercial break. [Anybody know how long they are? Minimum? Average]?

One minute is usually enough time for TV to find the definitive shot(s) and maybe even the referee to make the indication of the ruling, which can be recorded and replayed for viewers if it occurs before the commercial break finishes. The telling shot with an insert of the official ruling will take only a few seconds, so they can be ready to play in as little as 70 seconds.

TV should like that one, because it is pausing during a moment of suspense (as to the result), and the break is not too long, which catches more eyeballs than a 30 second spot buried on three for four minutes of interruption.

2.Take a similar 1-minute break for any injury timeout.
[Broadcasters might use this break for health-care related ads, but maybe I am just being cynical]


 

There is a major flaw in this idea (though I really like the idea!). It creates more time between games where those talking heads fill air with banal blabbering...we need to solve this as well for the primary idea to be successful!

I have nothing to add to this other than to join the choir on how awful this was this season. I can do without five minutes of the Red Hat Man on the field every time there's a timeout, especially when it means Special K is going to get hot and heavy with the BEATZ so loud I can't even think.

I would also point out that the OP is pretty much conceding the fact that college football is now a vehicle for advertising, not a sport supported by advertising. When the sport itself is completely reconfigured so Duracell can sell some batteries and Larry Culpepper can sell Dr. Pepper, it's time to start reconsidering some things.