And going out of bounds, TV commercials, changes of possession, quarter ends, the two minute warning, when the guys run the little first down markers out there; there’s a reason it’s the longest-running game of the major pro sports even though there’s only sixty minutes on the clock.
That said, a continually running clock wouldn’t work at all or you’d be fundamentally changing many of the other rules. Football could definitely stand to be sped up, but not with a soccer clock.
That’s way too big a change. Take out the blueline and you’ll see lacrosse scores in hockey. It’s way to hard to defend against the rush without the offside rule.
The NFL has sped up games recently - clock no longer stops on out of bounds unless it’s near the end of the half. They want games done in under 3 hours, mostly for TV. College still stops the clock for out of bounds and their games are much longer than the NFL.
All those things you mentioned are timeouts, except for going out of bounds. But going out of bounds only pauses the clock most of the time so I excluded it for simplicity. All that’s left are timeouts and incomplete passes.
Also, MLB games are longer than NFL games, especially in the playoffs.
Agreed on the first part, but I’m not sure what the original idea was so I floated a simple probing question. I disagree that football needs to be sped up anymore. As it is now games are typically just over 3 hours, even in the playoffs, which is fine by me. Far superior to 4-hour marathon MLB games. (Superior as in a better amount of time.)
Why the hell are tennis and golf fans, well, any individual sport fans really, supposed to stay quiet? Are the players so weakminded that they couldn’t focus on their performances if they had a few thousand people screaming at them about how much they suck? Team athletes can do it, why can’t you? What’s the problem with welcoming Tiger back to the links properly?
Come on, people, don’t be such wimps. Let the crowds be crowds, willya? They’ve paid enough money to watch you.
Do a Google search for average MLB time of game. The average hasn’t crept above three hours in years and mostly hovers in the 2:45-2:55 mark.
That’s a great point. If major league pitchers can handle crowds yelling, tennis players and golfers should be able to as well.
Well, one caveat is that the sound a tennis racket makes when it hits the ball tells the opponent what kind of shot it is. (smash, slice, etc…) So I can sort of see a justification for quiet there. This, incidentally, is part of the complaint about players grunting, because some believe players grunt to mask the racket noise.
But for golf? Get real. If pitchers can handle it, so can you. Could you imagine an NFL kicker going out to kick a field goal and the PA announcer comes on asking for quiet?
Regular season, maybe, though in googling I saw anything from 2:45 to 3:06.
I did find this, which claims that playoff games in 2008 averaged 3:16, which sounds about right. Those playoff games are endless.
No, they aren’t, and I don’t believe there has ever been a time when they were. The average NFL game lasts about 3 hours 7 minutes; the average baseball game is about two hours, 46 minutes. Baseball games have never averaged above 3 hours; it’s been a long time since football games were under 3 hours. Both sports have shaved a few minutes off in the last few years.
Playoff baseball is longer, but so is playoff football.
Baseball has a much wider possible spread of times; some games will be well over 3 hours, and some will be over and done with in just over two. NFL games will almost always finish between 2:55 and 3:25.
But the NFL average is longer, and has been for a long time, if not for the whole history of the league.
No, it isn’t. Playoff football is the same basic length as regular season football. If your 2:46 number is correct, it would appear that playoff baseball is much, much longer than regular season baseball.
OK, playoff games are a little longer. But they’re not four hours and they’re no longer than the average NFL game (which was 3 hours 3 minutes in 2007, described as the lowest time in a decade).
http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d8077401e&template=with-video&confirm=true
3:16 is no longer than 3:03?
Basketball could use hockey’s one-time-out rule to keep the last 20 seconds from taking half an hour. And deliberate fouls mean the points are automatic - don’t waste all that time with the freethrowfests.
Amen to that. I cannot stand the idea that intentionally commiting a foul is set up to be the smart play. Fouls should never be the smart play.
Maybe keep free throws by making a foul a guaranteed 2 points plus a free throw for a third. Or leave free throws as normal but run off the remainder of the shot clock.
This comes up a lot by, presumably, people who don’t know much about golf. The spectators in golf are only a few feet away. Big difference.
In rugby it is normal for the crowd to be quiet while a kick is attempted. When Scotland played England a couple of weeks ago the Scottish rabble started booing England’s kicker, which generated much consternation amongst the commentators and other rugby traditionalists.
I think tennis and golf players could adjust to constant noise. The main problem currently is because it is quiet. A sudden noise amidst the silence is much more offputting than the constant noise at a baseball/NFL game.
I agree. And the offending team also loses another 10 yards if they do not retreat quickly enough.
That’s why I said “rinse and repeat…” 
Right, if it’s constant you can tune it out. Davis Cup matches are rowdy sometimes and players adjust to the conditions. And you don’t need to be able to hear the shot to know what’s being hit, although maybe it is helpful extra information.
It’s two separate situations, though:
And while we are transferring rugby rules to football, let’s allow football referees rugby-like leeway in waiting to see if advantage results.