Why in (American) football is the ball is placed on the hashmarks instead of the middle of the field? How do they decide which side of the field to place the ball on?
If the previous play ends between the hash marks, the ball in placed at the spot the play ended. If the previous play ends out of bounds or outside of the hash marks, the ball is spotted at the nearest hash marks.
Imagine the complication of beginning the play next to a sideline as a possible reason. I suppose that the hashmarks are a compromise to incorporate some strategy to ball placement.
If a half is definately going to end on a field goal, some teams will down the ball or run towards the center of the field to create an easier chance.
Note that, for some reason, the hashmarks in college ball are closer to the sidelines than in the pros.
I think NFL rules say that there must be at least two linemen on each side of the center. If the ball is right next to the sideline, they wouldn’t be able to fit those huge guys in.
The hashmarks used to be even closer to the sidelines, meaning that sometimes the plays and formations would be overloaded on one side.
The hashmarks have gradually moved closer to midfield as time has passed, and don’t matter much these days, except during field goal attempts.
Personally I think the hashmarks ought to be widened a bit. I’d like to see lateral variation in field position have some effect on strategy.
The NFL moved the hashmarks toward the middle of the field to improve the passing game. When wideouts have more room to maneuver on the outside, it’s easier for them to get open. This opens up the game a bit, which increases scoring, which makes the games more fun to watch, which increases the number of television viewers, which puts more money in the league’s pockets.
In other words, it’s all about the benjamins.
I should also point out that it has a marginal effect on the running game. When you split players (like wide receivers) out wide to either side, defensive players have to go with them. Those defensive players that are split wide usually can’t get back to the middle of the field in time to stop a run up the middle. Thus, the middle is a bit more open for the run.
Also, one of the reasons teams run toss sweeps (runs to the outside) is to try and get their faster players (running backs) to the oustide before the defense’s slower players (like linemen and linebackers) can get out to stop the run. Hopefully, your running back will run a 4.4 (40 yard dash time) to the sideline, compared to the linebackers’ 4.6 and the d-linemen’s 4.8 (note: these are extremely fast times that are typically only found in the NFL). The idea is for the running back to get to the sideline before the linemen and linebackers get there, and then turn upfield and gain some yards. If the hashmarks are moved towards the sidelines, the running backs, linemen, and linebackers don’t have as far to run, so the difference in speed is negated somewhat. In other words, if the ball is in the middle of the field, the running back could get to the sideline a couple of steps before the linebackers and linemen. If the ball is on the hashmark nearest the sideline, the running back will not be able to put as much distance between himself and the linebackers and d-linemen before he has to turn upfield, so he won’t get as far.
So in college (where the hashmarks are farther towards the sideline), the running backs will have farther to run to the wide side of the field, but less space to run to the near side of the field. As a result, you almost never see college teams run sweeps to the short side of the field. And defenses know that there is a distinct disadvantage to running a sweep to the near sideline, so they’ll defend against the sweep to the wide side.
In the NFL, the ball is placed more towards the middle of the field, so defenses have to guard against the sweep to both sides a bit more.
. . . Yes, I know I’m a football geek. Sorry for boring you.