Pretty good article out of the Wall Street Journal. The games are getting longer and longer. I don't recall there being so many games that lasted any longer than 3-3.5 hours in the past (hence why we have noon and 3:30 starts). I watched my Bearcats tee it up at 7:30 last Thursday and the game did not get over until around midnight.

Its no wonder why CFB is seeing attendance suffer and fans exiting early when they do show up.


http://t.co/3Ngg0MDvTc

So? Football fans complain all year until football season rolls around, and now that it's here you want to complain that the games are too long?

When April rolls around, you'll crawl over broken glass to watch a football game - except there won't be any, unless you care for glorified spring games, which are nothing more than a scrimmage practice.

(09-29-2015 02:56 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  So? Football fans complain all year until football season rolls around, and now that it's here you want to complain that the games are too long?

When April rolls around, you'll crawl over broken glass to watch a football game - except there won't be any, unless you care for glorified spring games, which are nothing more than a scrimmage practice.

You are speaking from the perspective of a diehard. I am talking about everyone else-- students who want to go to a party, older alums/fans who have trouble sitting in a cramped stadium that long, people there with small children, etc. etc.

So far- avg game length this season is 3:20.
last year the avg game length was 3:23

also didn't see the game, but didn't the Kiel injury take some time?

(09-29-2015 01:19 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  Pretty good article out of the Wall Street Journal. The games are getting longer and longer. I don't recall there being so many games that lasted any longer than 3-3.5 hours in the past (hence why we have noon and 3:30 starts). I watched my Bearcats tee it up at 7:30 last Thursday and the game did not get over until around midnight.

Its no wonder why CFB is seeing attendance suffer and fans exiting early when they do show up.


http://t.co/3Ngg0MDvTc

I wonder how much time is being spent on reviewing plays. In the games I've watched, it seems like a lot. It wouldn't surprise me if it amounted to 30 minutes.

(09-29-2015 03:14 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(09-29-2015 01:19 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  Pretty good article out of the Wall Street Journal. The games are getting longer and longer. I don't recall there being so many games that lasted any longer than 3-3.5 hours in the past (hence why we have noon and 3:30 starts). I watched my Bearcats tee it up at 7:30 last Thursday and the game did not get over until around midnight.

Its no wonder why CFB is seeing attendance suffer and fans exiting early when they do show up.


http://t.co/3Ngg0MDvTc

I wonder how much time is being spent on reviewing plays. In the games I've watched, it seems like a lot. It wouldn't surprise me if it amounted to 30 minutes.

Most officiating crews do add about 20-30 minutes to games with reviews, conferences when nobody knows for sure what the call is, and other such BS delays. The games themselves haven't really gotten longer. But refs now want to make themselves as big as the game IMO.

Commercial breaks are another factor. We have more of 'em now.

(09-29-2015 03:05 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(09-29-2015 02:56 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  So? Football fans complain all year until football season rolls around, and now that it's here you want to complain that the games are too long?

When April rolls around, you'll crawl over broken glass to watch a football game - except there won't be any, unless you care for glorified spring games, which are nothing more than a scrimmage practice.

You are speaking from the perspective of a diehard. I am talking about everyone else-- students who want to go to a party, older alums/fans who have trouble sitting in a cramped stadium that long, people there with small children, etc. etc.

I agree. Sitting through a four-hour game that ends close to or after midnight, or all afternoon on a hot day, is a big nudge pushing a lot of people to watch on TV instead of buying tickets and going to the stadium.

If you're watching the game on TV, it's a smaller impact. A TV viewer can just go do something else if the game runs too long, or even start watching sometime in the second half (a la the stereotype of the casual NBA fan), if 4 hours seems too long to sit in front of the TV.

(09-29-2015 02:56 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  So? Football fans complain all year until football season rolls around, and now that it's here you want to complain that the games are too long?

When April rolls around, you'll crawl over broken glass to watch a football game - except there won't be any, unless you care for glorified spring games, which are nothing more than a scrimmage practice.

Yes, it's not like when baseball games go on and on forever, there are 162 of those so when that happens it's a real problem.

But sheesh, there are only 12 or 13 college football games per year! I don't really care how long they last.

(09-29-2015 03:13 PM)stever20 Wrote:  So far- avg game length this season is 3:20.
last year the avg game length was 3:23

also didn't see the game, but didn't the Kiel injury take some time?

I am actually shocked to see those numbers. The officiating crew in the AAC sucks and I think every game UC has had to date has taken forever (Temple lasted forever as well although the game was delayed due to lightening). That being said it is not just a AAC phenomena as the WSJ points out.

Injuries were a big factor vs. Memphis. IIRC ESPN went through two commercial breaks before Kiel was taken off the turf. There were several other players who went down to injury as well on both sides.

(09-29-2015 03:22 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-29-2015 02:56 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  So? Football fans complain all year until football season rolls around, and now that it's here you want to complain that the games are too long?

When April rolls around, you'll crawl over broken glass to watch a football game - except there won't be any, unless you care for glorified spring games, which are nothing more than a scrimmage practice.

Yes, it's not like when baseball games go on and on forever, there are 162 of those so when that happens it's a real problem.

But sheesh, there are only 12 or 13 college football games per year! I don't really care how long they last.

I've also been to 8 hour baseball games lasting 18 innings or more. So it's relative. But I do notice nobody ever seems to complain about those long baseball games. They become instant classics.

Any other sport is fair game. But not baseball.

I think the high scoring hurry up offenses that are becoming the mainstream are a cause of lengthening games. More scoring means more timeouts.

Cincy is like #9 in time length at 3:39 per game. part of Cincy is the # of offense plays- they are #1 in the country right now at 91 plays per game.

WVU ran 96 plays against Maryland last week, and the game lasted a little over 3 hours. IMO the refs and commercial breaks are more to blame than spread offenses for the length of the games.

1. Cut down on halftime. Take 2 minutes from each marching band if applicable.

2. Start on time! Do the national anthem and coin toss by :55/:25 and kickoff by :00/:30, not :05, :10

3. Be as precise as possible on the plays which can and cannot be reviewed.

4. Screw TV! Don't delay a start because another game on the same network is finishing. Make special arrangements for local markets and fans that want to see their teams (ESPN does that by switching a game over to another of their networks).

5. Wind the clock when the ball goes out of bounds except in the final 2-5 minutes (the NFL does that, IDK if college does).

6. Here's a revolutionary idea that probably won't catch on: wind the clock after an incompletion except in the final minutes of each half. Why does the clock stop? What reason is there to do so? After it hits the turf, wait for the ball to be placed back at the line of scrimmage and start the clock again except on a turnover on downs and in the final minutes.

7. To add to that, maybe keep running the clock, except during the final minutes, after a TD is scored and before the extra point.

8. Raise the advertising fees. That way, fewer ads can be run but the networks still get their money. TV timeouts would not last as long.

Just a few ideas.

(09-29-2015 03:30 PM)PlainTiger Wrote:  I think the high scoring hurry up offenses that are becoming the mainstream are a cause of lengthening games. More scoring means more timeouts.

Very true but some games are still lasting three hours. I think UConn at Missouri, which was 9-6, lasted over three hours.

Personally, the long games don't bother me.. that being said I can see why some do.

(09-29-2015 03:20 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  Commercial breaks are another factor. We have more of 'em now.

I still say the moment some conference and network agrees to go with the "Soccer" style of commercial breaks... banners on the screen and that's it, or the "split screen commercials/games" as in Indy racing (and in Nascar's first batch and last batch of laps).

I think you'd see games drop back down to the 2:30-3:00 hour mark again, but then again, your announcers would never get a chance to catch their breaths.

Quote:Screw TV! Don't delay a start because another game on the same network is finishing. Make special arrangements for local markets and fans that want to see their teams (ESPN does that by switching a game over to another of their networks).

This one I agree with wholeheartedly.. If you have an agreement to show a full game, use one of your other networks to show the start of the other game..or switch networks for your current game but start it _ON_ time.. and if you screw up and already have games going, you just screwed up as a network.

Quote:Here's a revolutionary idea that probably won't catch on: wind the clock after an incompletion except in the final minutes of each half. Why does the clock stop? What reason is there to do so? After it hits the turf, wait for the ball to be placed back at the line of scrimmage and start the clock again except on a turnover on downs and in the final minutes.

this one.. I'm kind of agreement on... the only problem is, it's a benefit to both sides (defense and offense) in regards to stopping the clock, if you don't stop the clock, the offense still gets a massive advantage IMO

(09-29-2015 03:20 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  

(09-29-2015 03:14 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(09-29-2015 01:19 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  Pretty good article out of the Wall Street Journal. The games are getting longer and longer. I don't recall there being so many games that lasted any longer than 3-3.5 hours in the past (hence why we have noon and 3:30 starts). I watched my Bearcats tee it up at 7:30 last Thursday and the game did not get over until around midnight.

Its no wonder why CFB is seeing attendance suffer and fans exiting early when they do show up.


http://t.co/3Ngg0MDvTc

I wonder how much time is being spent on reviewing plays. In the games I've watched, it seems like a lot. It wouldn't surprise me if it amounted to 30 minutes.

Most officiating crews do add about 20-30 minutes to games with reviews, conferences when nobody knows for sure what the call is, and other such BS delays. The games themselves haven't really gotten longer. But refs now want to make themselves as big as the game IMO.

Commercial breaks are another factor. We have more of 'em now.

When I'm at a game, the only annoyance is the TV commercial breaks and then when a review takes a really long time. The rest is fine. There's action.

I have to admit one reason I cancelled cable this year is because college football games last year just seemed too long. I just could not make it to the end, got bored and started doing or watching something else, you know, like a movie that can get done in 2 hours.

Games on ESPN especially seemed long. I wonder if there are stats on average length on ESPN vs. other networks.

I agree with most of C2's ideas.The games are too long.I used to wonder about fans who left at halftime-anymore I don't blame them.A WKU-LA TECH game I attended was nearly four hours-on a week night!


*Also remember we are talking about the casual fan-they are the ones we need and are the ones who drop out first.

*Die hard fans are all in-no matter.Casual fans help pad attendance,concessions and other income streams.

here's the thing also looking...

66 games over 3:30
6 over 4:00

that sounds bad.....
but there have been 483 game slots involving FBS teams. 95 of those with FCS teams- so 388 slots with 2 FBS teams against each other. That's 194 FBS games when you add to the 95 FCS games- means there's been 289 games so far total.

So of the 289 games-
22.8% have been over 3:30
2% over 4:00

There's been 13 overtime games this year. So if you assume all 13 of those are over 3:30, that leaves only 53 games going into OT out of 276 games- or 19.2%.