How long hs football game

Replay reviews are a valuable part of modern football. In the NFL today, certain calls can be reviewed by instant replay if a coach thinks the referees made an incorrect call. Replay review was adopted into the NFL in While replay reviews have improved the sport and helped assure that the right call is made, it also has resulted in longer games. A back-and-forth highly contested football game will often last longer than the average football game.

If the score is close late, the team that is behind will use timeouts to preserve game clock to try and get the ball back to score. They will also get out of bounds or spike the football to stop the game clock when they have the football on offense. Because of this, these types of games generally drag out near the end and can easily eat up an extra 30 minutes of time before the game ends.

There are occasions where this happens before the half too. If a team is driving to score, they will use their timeouts to preserve clock. This does not happen every game and is dependent on how many timeouts the team has, how close they are to scoring, and if the coach likes the matchup of his offense versus the opposing defense enough to try and score quickly against them. Primetime stand-alone games like Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night stand a chance of lasting a bit longer than regular Sunday NFL games.

Some primetime games may have extra pregame festivities. There also may be halftime entertainment or a jersey retirement ceremony. The greatest example of this is obviously the Super Bowl, which has more commercial breaks and a longer halftime show. Although primetime regular season games do stand a possibility of adding extra time the length of the game, the overall difference in game length will be minimal. The NFL in recent years has reformatted its in-game commercial structure for TV viewers, reducing the overall number of commercial breaks.

The NFL is also constantly evaluating the replay process to try and find ways to make it quicker and more effective. Replay is seen as an essential part of modern sports, but one major drawback is it can kill game flow and drain the excitement out of a raucous crowd. College Football is an exciting sport that has passionate following by fan bases. Games are fun events for students and alumni to spend Saturdays tailgating and hanging with friends and family.

If you are hosting a watch party or going to a game in person, how long can you expect a college football NCAA game to last? A college football game is on average just under three and a half hours in length. It consists of 60 minutes of game action.

In , the average FBS college football game lasted 3 hours and 24 minutes. The average college football game 3 hours 24 minutes was 17 minutes longer than the average NFL game 3 hours 7 minutes. Some college football enthusiasts consider this to be a problem and individual conferences have begun to take measures to try and remedy this length-of-game issue.

A college football game consists of four quarters with quarter two and three separated by a halftime. College football shares these attributes with the NFL, which also has 60 minutes of game time split across four minute quarters with a halftime separating quarters two and three.

A college football quarter is 15 minutes in length. The average college football quarter lasts slightly over 45 minutes in real time. A college football game lasts just under 3 and a half hours.

If you are watching the television broadcast, you can expect an additional five-minute introduction in most cases. There also may be a small amount of time allotted after the game to interview a player or coach. You can expect an average television broadcast to last slightly over 3 and a half hours. There is obviously a lot of variation in this for individual games. Some games may last beyond four hours in total time.

A college football halftime lasts for 20 minutes. It has been a point of emphasis in college football to make sure that halftimes are not extended past 20 minutes to keep the overall length of games from getting out of hand.

First Downs — In college football, when a first down is gained the game clock stops until the ball is set by the referee. In the NFL, first downs do not stop the game clock. This is the main reason college football games are on average longer than NFL games.

Halftime — College football halftime is 20 minutes versus an NFL halftime which is only 13 minutes and 30 seconds. This adds nearly 7 minutes to the length of college football in comparison to the NFL. More scores equal more extra points untimed downs and more kickoffs potentially untimed down and more commercial breaks. This lengthens the game. High school football games typically last between two hours and two and a half hours.

They consist of four minute quarters with a halftime in between the second and third quarter. The state of Massachusetts uses minute quarters during the regular season and minute quarters in the playoffs. They are the lone exception to the standard minute quarter length. The average length of a high school football game is very hard to nail down.

Across the United States there are many different types of classes of high school football, all with varying levels of talent and styles of play. In general, you can expect a high school football game to be shorter in length than a college football game and an NFL game. If you are heading to a high school game, although the average game length is typically between two and two and a half hours, be prepared for exceptions because many states use a mercy rule which may cause the game to be much shorter.

If the results are still equal after this calculation, the game will go into extra time. Occasionally, a tied game may need to be replayed; however, this is exceptionally rare.

If the score is equal after added time, the game will move onto a penalty shootout. Typically, players will take it in turns to take a shot on goal from a specific spot.

Each team takes it in turns to shoot with the only defender being the goalkeeper. The winner is determined by the largest number of successful goals after a specific number of attempts. In this circumstance, the teams will take shots alternatively and the one that scores a goal unmatched by their opponent is the winner.

If every player has taken a shot, certain players may need to take extra shots until the tie is broken. Fergie time is a phrase used in English football. It refers to an excessive amount of time at the end of a match to allow a team more time to equalise or win the game.

The phrase is named after Sir Alex Ferguson, the previous manager of Manchester United, and the perception that during matches in which Man United were not winning, there would be excessive time added for United to score an equaliser or win the game. Whether or not this really exists is another question, but opposing fans certainly believe it does! A standard football match is 90 minutes made up of two minute halves. Facebook Twitter Instagram Linkedin. How Long is a Football Match?

Share on facebook. Share on twitter. Share on linkedin. Share on whatsapp. Does a Game Always Last 90 Minutes? Youth Games To account for lack of fitness, youth games often last less than 90 minutes. Stoppage Time Stoppage time, or injury time, is the time added onto the end of each half of a football game. Extra Time If the score is equal after 90 minutes, in some competitions the game may go into extra time. If the final score remained equal at the end of the previous quarter, sudden overtime death would have occurred immediately.

Previously, the official game time for the NFL was scheduled to be 15 minutes. But this rule was changed in and reduced to just 10 minutes.

The first team to score within 10 minutes wins the game. An average professional football game lasts 3 hours and 12 minutes, but if you count the time when the ball was actually played, the action lasted only 11 minutes.

Part of the difference concerns the basic rules of American football. Unlike hockey or basketball, the minute clock in football can run even when the ball is not in play. That means a lot of game time is spent standing around or gathering before each playthrough begins. A few years ago by the Wall Street Journal, 11 minutes of action was famously calculated. Its analysis shows that the average NFL broadcast spends more time on replays 17 minutes than it does live.

Much of the time 75 minutes is spent watching the players, coaches and referees essentially loiter on the pitch. The average game in the NFL lasts only four seconds. Of course, watching football on TV is hardly just the game. There are also lots of ads to show people.

The average NFL game consisting of 20 commercial breaks contains more than ads. The stop-and-go nature of football makes it especially important for advertising, unlike football, which forces broadcasters to creatively insert ads during the minute run of the game. Broadcasts of NFL games in Europe, incidentally, include much less advertising.

The game clock is responsible for the length of a football game. The clock management in the NFL game is the main reason why a game takes so long to complete.

Whenever there is a change in ownership, the clock stops and the sides change personnel, alternating between their man offensive and defensive units. Often, these stoppages while the clock stops are marked by commercial breaks as the NFL makes the most of its vast global reach. The average game has about 12 assets per team, with each change often welcoming a wave of TV commercials. Factor in about two video reviews of controversial calls, penalties, three timeouts for each side, where they can choose to stop the clock and take a break with two minutes remaining at the end of each round and obviously to see the number of ads how the break time significantly increases the time to complete the game.

As mentioned, the average NFL game takes 3 hours and 12 minutes to complete, but this can vary considerably. In , a game between the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts broke the year record for fastest NFL game, finishing in 2 hours and 33 minutes while some games are known to last as long as nearly 4 hours.

How can these times vary to such an extent? Several factors speed up or slow down the game. When the ball is in the play area, such as a run or pass where the player is blocked in bounds, the clock will continue to run. If there are a few incomplete passes or plays where the ball carrier goes out of bounds, this will inevitably consume a large amount of the 60 minutes of the game as well as little rest time. Teams are also under no obligation to use up their timeouts, and if there is little change in ownership this would also shorten the proceedings somewhat.