Starting times for the "4pm" games is moved back

[Gronkandez]

That a excellent goal...that's being pursued in the wrong way.

If the NFL wants to cut down on overlap, than they should try to cut down on the length of games. I'm guessing that run-times have steadily increased over the years. I don't want the NFL to become like MLB. I'd love to know how bad the runtimes are compared to NCAA football.

I say this because the biggest period of downtime, by my eye, is the challenge system. Is there any need for the on-field official to have to run over to that little on-field kiosk? It's a waste of time. 9 times out of 10, before the ref even makes it to the booth, the audience has already seen replays from, like, 3 different camera-angles and the result is pretty clear. It's a waste of time. Do what the NCAA does and just let the decision come from the booth. That's seriously got to be worth about 7-10 minutes right there; probably more if both teams go through all their flags.

Longer games = more commercials = more revenue so that probably isn't happening. The worst is the prime time games when there is a score, then a commercial, then a kickoff, then a commercial.

 

[Shockt327]

Longer games = more commercials = more revenue so that probably isn't happening. The worst is the prime time games when there is a score, then a commercial, then a kickoff, then a commercial.

Yeah, that's probably the mindset, too.

 

[Uncle Rico]

This is a blatant attempt to give the Red Zone guy a bathroom break.

 

[jmt57]

Longer games = more commercials = more revenue so that probably isn't happening. The worst is the prime time games when there is a score, then a commercial, then a kickoff, then a commercial.

Actually if I am not mistaken there is a specific number of commercials per game, regardless of length. That's why sometimes late in the games you suddenly don't get three minutes of commercials after every change of possession. It does seem odd, like they are leaving money on the table, but they don't actually have more commercials with longer games.

 

[Shockt327]

Actually if I am not mistaken there is a specific number of commercials per game, regardless of length. That's why sometimes late in the games you suddenly don't get three minutes of commercials after every change of possession. It does seem odd, like they are leaving money on the table, but they don't actually have more commercials with longer games.

even if there is OT?

 

[Wax Frog]

Nothing worse than having to watch the final 10 minutes of a goddamn jags/jets game instead of watching the Pats.

May I create another account so I can "like" this again?

 

[patchick]

Yeah I dunno why they wouldn't just move the early games up to 12:30.

I'll take a guess that the NFL would have preferred to move the early games up instead, but that would have meant infringing on time slots contractually allotted to local affiliates. (It would be nice to think they'd just shave time off their pregame blather instead, but who are we kidding?)

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

That a excellent goal...that's being pursued in the wrong way.

If the NFL wants to cut down on overlap, than they should try to cut down on the length of games. I'm guessing that run-times have steadily increased over the years. I don't want the NFL to become like MLB. I'd love to know how bad the runtimes are compared to NCAA football.

As someone who attends around 10 division 1 cfb games/year, I would tell you that the run times are about 3:30. I get to my car around 3:45 after a noon kickoff. Half time in CFB is 20 minutes compared to 12 minutes in the NFL which does account for some if not most of the extra time.

 

[ausbacker]

10 minutes of extra Monday morning sleep in time. Thank you very much.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

If the NFL wants to cut down on overlap, than they should try to cut down on the length of games.

Be careful what you ask for. That would result in less actual football. And the precedent has been set in the mid-90s.

Up until the mid-90s the clock would stop when a ballcarrier went out-of-bounds and would stay stopped until the next snap for the entire game.

Because people were complaining about the length of games, the NFL decided to solve the "problem" by giving us less football: since then, when a ballcarrier goes OOB the clock is only stopped until the ball is spotted, then the clock restarts. The original keep-it-stopped rule does come back for the final 2:00 of the first half and the final 5:00 of the second half.

So no, I don't want the length of games reduced because it only means there will be less football. There's no way there will be less commercial time.

 

[Wolfpack]

I'm not sure 60 minutes is going to like this....

60 Minutes owes it's entire existence to the huge audience lead in they've been getting from the NFL for about 40 years now (save a few years where CBS lost the NFL license). They'll have no problem with this, I just wonder how long they'll be able to put themselves in the 7:00 timeslot for ratings books.

 

[Wolfpack]

I love this decision. Gives you 10 more minutes to cash in your winnings from the 1:00 games and put them on one of the late games. All too often I find myself cutting it way too close and/or not making it because that 1:00 game went just a bit too long.

 

[Wolfpack]

Well, that is kinda irrelevant since NBC would cut out of the Jets/Jag game to broadcast the start of the Pats' game. It works the other way in that if the early game is great, you won't cut out of the end of the game to broadcast a crappy Giants' game.

The networks are not allowed to leave the end of the 1:00 game it is broadcasting to go to a late game EXCEPT in the home towns of the participating teams (in which case the changeover is mandatory).

In other words on October 7, if your area of the country is showing Dolphins-Bengals early then at 4:00 you're stuck with that game until it concludes, and will join Broncos-Pats in progress. The exception is the CBS affiliates in Boston and Denver, which MUST do the change over when the game begins.

 

[Wolfpack]

As a football fan I'm perfectly fine with the change. From a business perspective I'm really surprised that CBS and Fox agreed to the change
Viewers tune in to see a show and it's not there; rather than wait they're likely to change the channel, start watching something else, and never remember to flip back..

Whuh huh whuh?? CBS and FOX no doubt LOVE this change because it gives them 10 extra minutes to throw extra commercials at us. There is a fixed number of commercials the networks can show during the games, but when it's between games and they send us back to the studio, they can squeeze in however many they want.

Do you honestly believe people are going to tune in for a game at 4:15, see Terry Howie and Jimmy, and then forget all about the game they were otherwise planning to watch? No. They're going to sit there and watch Terry Howie and Jimmy for 10 minutes, with a few extra commercials thrown in.

 

[Wolfpack]

That a excellent goal...that's being pursued in the wrong way.

If the NFL wants to cut down on overlap, than they should try to cut down on the length of games. I'm guessing that run-times have steadily increased over the years. I don't want the NFL to become like MLB. I'd love to know how bad the runtimes are compared to NCAA football.

The NFL will never be like MLB because in the NFL there is a clock and the referees are told to do everything they can to control the pace of the game. If it's going to fast, they deliberately slow it down. If it's going to slow, they deliberately speed it up.

Obviously when there is an overtime game, all best are off. But beyond that, games are designed to take about 3:15 and very rarely go significantly over that.

 

[Wolfpack]

Longer games = more commercials = more revenue so that probably isn't happening. The worst is the prime time games when there is a score, then a commercial, then a kickoff, then a commercial.

The NFL isn't like baseball where every time there's a break, they do some commercials and then the total number of commercials is a product of how many breaks there are (i.e. a game with 7 pitching changes will have more commercials than a game with 1).

Each NFL game has a predetermined amount of commercials. They won't interrupt the middle of a drive to show a commercial (at least not without a timeout or injury of course). So since touchdowns follow drives which are, on average, longer than other drives, the networks get behind on their commercial quota.

In other words, when there's a 1 play TD drive we rarely see the double commercial break, but when there's a 10 play TD drive we almost always see it.

 

[Wolfpack]

Be careful what you ask for. That would result in less actual football. And the precedent has been set in the mid-90s.

Up until the mid-90s the clock would stop when a ballcarrier went out-of-bounds and would stay stopped until the next snap for the entire game.

Because people were complaining about the length of games, the NFL decided to solve the "problem" by giving us less football: since then, when a ballcarrier goes OOB the clock is only stopped until the ball is spotted, then the clock restarts. The original keep-it-stopped rule does come back for the final 2:00 of the first half and the final 5:00 of the second half.

Yes but a lot of those modern-day timing issues which the NFL changed were offset by the fact that they changed the play clock from 45 seconds to 40 seconds.

Heck, way back in the old days, not only was it a 45 second play clock, but the darn thing didn't even start until the ball was set by the refs. So there was realistically 50-55 seconds between plays (with even longer after a huge gain), with the clock continually running if the last play resulted in an in-bounds tackle These days once the play is over in the middle of a drive, then you WILL see the next play within 40 seconds or it's a penalty - the only exceptions being injuries or charged timeouts.

 

[jmt57]

even if there is OT?

As a matter of fact, yes.

Sort of.

In overtime they might show a PSA (public service announcement, like a United Way ad or one of those on the bus ads), or a bunch of promos for upcoming shows from that network.


But paid advertisements for a beer, truck, insurance or cell phone service?

No.

 

[jmt57]

60 Minutes owes it's entire existence to the huge audience lead in they've been getting from the NFL for about 40 years now (save a few years where CBS lost the NFL license). They'll have no problem with this, I just wonder how long they'll be able to put themselves in the 7:00 timeslot for ratings books.

60 Minutes became popular because all networks had to set aside a certain amount of prime time for the public good rather than sitcoms and dramas. While the other networks responded by doing nothing other than public access shows and reruns of earlier newscasts, CBS did something innovative.

The popularity of the show had nothing to do with the NFL, unless your definition of "entire existence" extends no further than a couple of years.

 

[Wolfpack]

60 Minutes became popular because all networks had to set aside a certain amount of prime time for the public good rather than sitcoms and dramas. While the other networks responded by doing nothing other than public access shows and reruns of earlier newscasts, CBS did something innovative.

The popularity of the show had nothing to do with the NFL, unless your definition of "entire existence" extends no further than a couple of years.

We could argue forever about my usage of the phrase "entire existence" and never get anywhere, but to say the popularity of the show "has nothing to do with the NFL" is just a ridiculously foolish statement. 60 Minutes benefits from a HUGE lead-in audience on those day CBS has the doubleheader. When CBS lost the NFL, their programs suffered significantly, including 60 Minutes.