11 minutes of action

by Will on January 22, 2010

That’s how much playing time goes into a typical NFL broadcast, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Tagged as: Football (American), WSJ

Will writes from Washington, D.C. (well, Arlington, Virginia). You can reach him at willblogcorrespondence at gmail dot com.

{ 5 comments }

1 Bo January 22, 2010 at 9:20 am

Related: Software that compresses a 3 hr baseball game into 8 minutes of pure action.

2 Freddie January 22, 2010 at 9:32 am

Yeah, baseball is even worse.

3 Will January 22, 2010 at 9:39 am

Nice find, Bo. I can’t decide if this sort of thing builds tension or makes American sports stupefyingly boring. I guess it all depends on the game.

4 Chris Dierkes January 22, 2010 at 10:07 am

well i would make a distinction (in football anyway) between huddle time and play calling (which is action) and the new tendency, especially in playoffs, towards commercials after every friggin’ punt.

For me I find the gamesmanship of football and the time between plays builds anticipation. The overuse of the commercials is what kills it for me.

5 Sam M January 22, 2010 at 2:13 pm

I guess 11 minutes out of 60 isn’t all that much. But for people who play and really like the sport, the play-calling and all the rest is an integral part of it. It’s kind of like measuring the action in a chess match by coutning up how much time people spend moving the pieces.

I might add this: So in 11-minutes of playing you usually get something like five or six scores at least. In a game like the incredible Green Bay versus Arizona match-up a few weeks back, you get something closer to 10 or 12 scores. In 11 minutes.

Versus maybe one or two scores in a soccer match. Maybe they ought to play less and strategize more. Huddle up from time to time. Catch a breath and agree to… do something.

In other words, “USA! USA!”

Now if someone would pass me an ice-cold, mass-produced beer that is yellow and transparent, I would much appreciate it. Me and Toby Keith are off to McDonald’s. And Walmart. And Halliburton. But not France.

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