Study: NFL games only have 11 minutes of action

[SmootSmack]

We ran a similar study across multiple sports a few months ago. If I remember right there is actually more game action in a baseball game than football. Which is interesting because we think of football as a fast and exciting sport, and baseball as slow and dull.

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

We ran a similar study across multiple sports a few months ago. If I remember right there is actually more game action in a baseball game than football. Which is interesting because we think of football as a fast and exciting sport, and baseball as slow and dull.

yeah, the biggest difference being that everyone on the football field is playing

in soccer you have guys standing.. in baseball you have a couple of defensive guys per hit.. when there's a hit.. otherwise.. pitcher catcher... batter?

etc

[SouperMeister]

Originally Posted by tryfuhl

yeah, the biggest difference being that everyone on the football field is playing

in soccer you have guys standing.. in baseball you have a couple of defensive guys per hit.. when there's a hit.. otherwise.. pitcher catcher... batter?

etc

Football definitely requires maximum effort when the ball is in play. What makes football truly great for fans is the strategy involved from play to play, based on down and distance, exploiting matchups, etc. I love being able to analyze a situation between plays and have an opinion about how the opposition should be attacked. I watch other sports as "filler" during the NFL offseason, but the NFL is my sports watching passion. Give me my 11 minutes of action over 3+ hours, and I'm engrossed.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by SouperMeister

Football definitely requires maximum effort when the ball is in play. What makes football truly great for fans is the strategy involved from play to play, based on down and distance, exploiting matchups, etc. I love being able to analyze a situation between plays and have an opinion about how the opposition should be attacked. I watch other sports as "filler" during the NFL offseason, but the NFL is my sports watching passion. Give me my 11 minutes of action over 3+ hours, and I'm engrossed.

Well put. NFL football is the sport most like chess IMO and that is a good thing.

[MattsRiff]

Originally Posted by Lotus

Well put. NFL football is the sport most like chess IMO and that is a good thing.

Was exactly what I was going to say... Chess has what 20 seconds of "action".

[irish]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

We ran a similar study across multiple sports a few months ago. If I remember right there is actually more game action in a baseball game than football. Which is interesting because we think of football as a fast and exciting sport, and baseball as slow and dull.

I saw a similar study and was surprised at how close the game action time was.

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

We ran a similar study across multiple sports a few months ago. If I remember right there is actually more game action in a baseball game than football. Which is interesting because we think of football as a fast and exciting sport, and baseball as slow and dull.

I just don't see how that's possible -- but I guess it depends on how you define "action" and at which point you begin to measure it. If the action in baseball begins when the ball leaves the pitcher's fingertips, and if most of the time the ball goes directly into the catcher's mit, then the total "action" for that play would last only for like 1 or 2 seconds (maybe not even that).

When a hit occurs, obviously the action time goes up. But I wonder how many times on average someone gets a hit compared with the number of pitches thrown in a typical game?