How Long Do NFL Football Games Last?
Did you know the Super Bowl gets more than 100 million viewers every year? The grand finale of the NFL is a true spectacle that everyone enjoys, but not too many teams and players get to experience it. Only the best two teams of the season will compete for the World Champion title.
To get there, teams must clash over 17 weeks, totaling 200 different games played by 32 squads. Each game is a story on its own, but they all last more or less a similar amount of time. Although rarely the same up to a second, they usually last around three hours.
So why do they last so long when the actual time of every game is set to 60 minutes? What makes the games spread to around three times more than the official timeplay? Let’s dive into this and see why NFL games last so much longer.
How Long Are NFL Games?
If you look at the rules of the game, every professional American football match lasts exactly one hour. This one hour is divided into four quarters lasting 15 minutes each. When the clock runs out, the game ends or goes into overtime. This, again, prolongs the time and if there must be a winner, but no team scores points, the match may last indefinitely, at least in theory.
So, answering this question is technically impossible, but, most cases tell us that an NFL game will last around three hours with everything included. If you want to call your friends and watch a game, but have plans to go somewhere else after that, be aware that this will take at least three hours.
How long is a college football game?
Although NFL and college games have some differences, when it comes to the duration, they are exactly the same. College football games also last one hour divided into four 15-minute quarters, with the entire length lasting around three hours.
The only difference when it comes to game duration is the slightly extended stoppage time between plays because of the nature of the players. The NFL, standing for National Football Association, is a league for professional players, and the College Football League consists of amateur players who represent their college, meaning the latter are not as prepared for the mental and physical challenges that football brings. However, if there’s no overtime, matches still last around three hours, just as they do in the NFL.
How long do NFL games last on TV?
We can easily say that NFL games are a great experience to attend, but the TV broadcast is also something to enjoy. Many prefer watching sports on a huge TV set in dedicated personal theater rooms than going to the stadiums. The reason is simple – these broadcasts have a lot to offer.
Viewers will spend three hours in front of the TV, but the director of the broadcast, the cameramen, and everyone else involved in the process will be there much longer to provide the perfect experience for the viewers.
What is the longest NFL game aired on TV?
When you’re thinking about how long do NFL football games last, it’s easy to say about three hours, more or less, but going with that presumption means you can be badly mistaken. If someone was planning their day according to the NFL game played in Miami between the Dolphins and the Tennessee Titans on September 9th, 2018, they made a huge mistake. The match lasted seven hours and eight minutes in total due to bad weather.
It’s interesting that the longest official playing time in a match is also connected to the Miami Dolphins. They played the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day in 1971. Their total playing time was a whopping 82 minutes and 40 seconds. However, the entire event lasted an almost standard three hours and 21 minutes.
In other words, even the longest official games in NFL history are not even close to the other when it comes to logical time length. You’d assume that the longest official stoppage time would result in a match that also lasted the longest, but that’s not the case here.
Conclusion
When we summarise everything, we come to a clear conclusion – the average length of an NFL game is around three hours even though the official playing time is 60 minutes. If you’re preparing your marketing plans, writing an essay for school, or learning about the sport, these are the numbers you should have in mind.
If you’re thinking about having a game with your friends and want to know how much other leagues play, it is still the same number. The length of other minor leagues is also set to 60 minutes, so no matter the level of professionalism you and your friends have, you should always aim for the same numbers.