Time And Motion.

Is The NFL Product Wavering?

Over two years ago, one of my posts addressed televised football, specifically the National Football League. I mentioned that I have been and still am an NFL fan, though to me college football makes Saturdays way more fun than the pro game on Sundays. I have been an Atlanta Falcons fan for decades though I do not regularly watch their 1pm Sunday games – watching football on TV is not really on the agenda on a nice Sunday afternoon.

Last night the Falcons took the field against Philadelphia on Sunday Night Football so I decided to watch hoping the Falcons could even up their record after two games. As I did over two years ago I decided that I would take a look at the 1st quarter metrics regarding actual playing time. I guess watching a game in person or at a bar/restaurant is a better experience, but watching at home and dealing with the non-playing time is becoming a difficult task. Here are some takes from last night’s first quarter:

• the first quarter last 41 minutes
• there were 6 commercial breaks or promotional spots
• there were 37 plays
• the actual play time of the 37 plays, from the snap of the ball to the end of play whistle: two minutes, fifty-seven seconds.

The 41 minutes of the 1st quarter, from 8:22pm to 9:03pm, had less than three minutes of actual playing time with 38 minutes of non-play (the huddle), penalties, regular or injury time outs, and commercial/promotional spots.

Again, I am a football fan, and when watching in person or at a sports bar, it really does not matter how much “non-play” time there is….as we are busy ranting and raving about the game as well as the obvious drinking and eating. There are a lot of smart people with the NFL office and I am sure they are looking at the length of game scenarios to figure out how to keep games from lasting close to 3.5 hours…or in other words present a better overall product. For me, I don’t watch too much football on Sundays so it is what it is…but it does seem that the disproportionate time between the time of the game and the amount of actual playing time is sideways. Here is a take on the NFL product – from two years ago. Do you agree?

I won’t talk about the positive soccer experience and the two-hour game, including halftime. No, I won’t.

Adios, pay it forward, and have a great week!