# Football field length, July 26 Spruce Goose

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-field-length-july-26-spruce-goose/120936>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [July 26, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-field-length-july-26-spruce-goose/120936 "2002-07-26T14:27:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BZ00000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/47e85d/32.png) [@BZ00000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BZ00000)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-field-length-july-26-spruce-goose/120936/1 "2002-07-26T14:27:17Z")

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In the recent column about the Spruce Goose, it was stated the Spruce Goose was 320 feet, 20 feet longer than a football field. A football field is 360 feet, there are two 30 feet end zones that are part of the field.

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-field-length-july-26-spruce-goose/120936/2 "2002-07-26T23:04:17Z")

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Welcome to the SDMB, and thank you for posting your comment.  
Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site.  
To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post (make sure there is a space **before** and **after** the text of the URL).

Cecil’s column can be found on-line at this link:  
[How come Howard Hughes’s “Spruce Goose” flew only once? (26-Jul-2002)](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020726.html)

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moderator, «[**Comments on Cecil’s Columns**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)»

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-field-length-july-26-spruce-goose/120936/3 "2002-07-27T02:34:52Z")

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So it depends on whether you wanna count the end zones as part of the “field”. Some people don’t, some people do. Cecil doesn’t, you do. The Columbia Encyclopedia doesn’t, the _Sports Rules_ encyclopedia does.

[http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/NinTam.shtml](http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/NinTam.shtml)

[shrug]

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**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-field-length-july-26-spruce-goose/120936/4 "2002-07-27T19:12:59Z")

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Um, of course the end zones are part of the field, DDG. If not, the ball would be out of play in them.

More importantly, most “football” fields run about 120 yards long in the real football. 😉