How long should a NCAA football game last?

[USC80]

http://thewizardofodds.blogspot.com/2008/02/who-is-to-blame-for-longer-games.html



Looking for Blame in Endless Games (http://thewizardofodds.blogspot.com/2008/02/who-is-to-blame-for-longer-games.html)

http://bp1.blogger.com/_7OC0YbG2fek/R7qZ-pjDgsI/AAAAAAAAFB8/JzxO-lXea9Q/s400/2007TimeofGames.jpg (http://bp1.blogger.com/_7OC0YbG2fek/R7qZ-pjDgsI/AAAAAAAAFB8/JzxO-lXea9Q/s1600-h/2007TimeofGames.jpg)The Football Rules Committee (http://thewizardofodds.blogspot.com/2008/02/ncaa-tries-again-to-shorten-games.html) was right. An average game lasts too long, especially when it comes to games telecast by CBS.

The network's telecasts averaged 3:47:04 to blow away the competition. By comparison, the average game in the 2007 season lasted 3:23:04. That's up from 3:21:17 in 2005 and 3:07:24 in 2006, when the controversial 3-2-5e rule not only dramatically cut the length of games, but the number of plays.

The 3-2-5e rule was abolished (http://thewizardofodds.blogspot.com/2007/02/turn-back-clock.html) for the 2007 season and the average number of plays returned to 143.42, on par with the 2005 average of 140.71 (a difference of plus-2.71 plays).

What is disturbing is that the average length of a game increased 1:47 from 2005. Hence the conundrum facing the Football Rules Committee: How to keep the integrity of the game in place while not damaging revenue streams (often referred to as commercials).

A study conducted by Marty of cfbstats, the ultimate site (http://www.cfbstats.com/) for college football stats junkies, and Matt from the excellent College Sports Schedules (http://mattsarz44017.tripod.com/), has given us another network-by-network breakdown. We're once again happy to serve as the press agent for this project — as we did last year (http://thewizardofodds.blogspot.com/2007/02/cbs-commercial-broadcasting-system.html) — and you can view the full details of this year's study at cfbstats.com (http://www.cfbstats.com/).
http://bp2.blogger.com/_7OC0YbG2fek/R7qZ-5jDgtI/AAAAAAAAFCE/SuviWfJQJ2w/s400/2007PlaysPerMinute.jpg (http://bp2.blogger.com/_7OC0YbG2fek/R7qZ-5jDgtI/AAAAAAAAFCE/SuviWfJQJ2w/s1600-h/2007PlaysPerMinute.jpg)Extracting commercialization from a telecast is difficult. Perhaps the best method is to examine the impact on a game. The chart above shows the average number of plays per minute in a 2007 telecast. As you can see, the fewest number of plays per minute belonged to the networks whose games also lasted the longest, suggesting increased commercial time.
http://bp2.blogger.com/_7OC0YbG2fek/R7qZ-5jDguI/AAAAAAAAFCM/DYgy_HdHcdQ/s400/PlaysPerMinute2005-07.jpg (http://bp2.blogger.com/_7OC0YbG2fek/R7qZ-5jDguI/AAAAAAAAFCM/DYgy_HdHcdQ/s1600-h/PlaysPerMinute2005-07.jpg)Above and below we have charted the plays per minute of networks who have been broadcasting games each of the past three years. (TBS, NFL, Big Ten Network, Versus and the mtn. did not meet the three-year criteria.)

You can see the impact of the 3-2-5e rule in 2006 across the board and how the number of plays rebounded in 2007 to meet or exceed the 2005 averages. It's also interesting to note that CBS and Fox have had a stranglehold on fewest plays since 2005, again suggesting that games broadcast by these networks have higher than average commercial breaks.
http://bp3.blogger.com/_7OC0YbG2fek/R7qZ_JjDgvI/AAAAAAAAFCU/uLnXkO_zz_A/s400/PlaysPerMinute2005-07Chart2.jpg (http://bp3.blogger.com/_7OC0YbG2fek/R7qZ_JjDgvI/AAAAAAAAFCU/uLnXkO_zz_A/s1600-h/PlaysPerMinute2005-07Chart2.jpg)Our thoughts: While commercialization is arguably the leading contributor to games dragging on to no end, other factors — increased passing, overtime and instant replay — are also to blame:

Passing: Blame this on the popularity of spread offenses. Increased passing results in an increase in clock stoppages. Simple as that.

Overtime: While this has been a huge success, the rules committee blew it by not taking a look at overtime rules in an attempt to speed play. We will address this in detail on Thursday. Stay tuned.

Instant replay: A necessary evil, but one that can be streamlined. That's why the Wiz was mystified that the rules committee — while trying to shorten games — would agree to give coaches an extra replay challenge if the first one is upheld. Instituting this rule guarantees longer games.

[JAYBEZ]

If we are winning, it should end immediately....



In reality though. I like long football games. But the TV guys are putting way to much pressure on the NCAA. Don't disturb their pretty little advertising schedule.

[bhusc2002]

If we are winning, it should end immediately....



In reality though. I like long football games. But the TV guys are putting way to much pressure on the NCAA. Don't disturb their pretty little advertising schedule.
i like long football games if they're ACTUALLY PLAYING FOOTBALL. i dont feel like sitting through 2 hours of commercials to see an hour and a half of football.

[reddot8481]

The morons don't realize the advertising potential beyond the commecial time. Start doing overlays like the nfl and MLB and you can optimize your revenue per time. Besides the only real reason this is a problem is that it disrupts show schedules if games go long, for overtime or just slow play. In this case it really doesn't matter since most of the time the network is receiving more hits during the game then whatever they air afterwards. I mean who really stays on the channel after the game to watch "according to Jim" or whatever other crappy sitcom they have on.

[ultimatetailgater]

Keep in mine CBS broadcasts mainly SEC games many of which went to overtime and there are a lot of passing teams. That aside I love long football games.

[Freehawk]

I rather like the Flash Classics.

I think they should say "and now we skip to further action, later in the drive."

[Freehawk]

Keep in mine CBS broadcasts mainly SEC games many of which went to overtime and there are a lot of passing teams. That aside I love long football games.

I wonder if all the multi-mega OT games that Arkansas has been involved in has skewed this statistic?

[Cockholio]

Great find! Long games are great unless your team is slotted with an afternoon/evening time slot. There's a good chance of missing a lot of the 1st quarter of your game because the earlier game ran long for whatever reason.

I've always known CBS was a commercial whore.

[Forkcock]

4 hours, no more, no less.

[d20636]

4 hours, no more, no less.:lol:

"He drops back - sees his receiver - let's it fly an OH! The 4 hour clock just went off! That's the game! He caught it in the endzone but the clock had sounded - tough break, don't you think Jeff?"
"That's right Frank, but we have to move on to 'Dawson's Creek' - this is the network's time, ya know..."

I could also see "Lot of time left Jeff - and Georgia scores again on Hawaii - that makes it...um...carry the 3...117 to 14! Another NCAA record! And to think Michigan just set one last week beating Notre Dame 114 to 13!"

:rotfl:

(Seriously - I hate it that the networks influence the rules of the game - but I can't get tickets (let alone travel) to all the games I want to see, so I guess I'm their beyotch...)

[Forkcock]

:lol:

"He drops back - sees his receiver - let's it fly an OH! The 4 hour clock just went off! That's the game! He caught it in the endzone but the clock had sounded - tough break, don't you think Jeff?"
"That's right Frank, but we have to move on to 'Dawson's Creek' - this is the network's time, ya know..."

I could also see "Lot of time left Jeff - and Georgia scores again on Hawaii - that makes it...um...carry the 3...117 to 14! Another NCAA record! And to think Michigan just set one last week beating Notre Dame 114 to 13!"

:rotfl:

(Seriously - I hate it that the networks influence the rules of the game - but I can't get tickets (let alone travel) to all the games I want to see, so I guess I'm their beyotch...)



That's funny as hell!

[NastyNash]

If we are winning, it should end immediately....



In reality though. I like long football games. But the TV guys are putting way to much pressure on the NCAA. Don't disturb their pretty little advertising schedule.


God your right