#football If you’re like me, you turn on the TV or switch channels to get the NFL game and, no surprise, you get a commercial. That goes on and on and on … Well, the reason for this is simple math. NFL games last, on average, 210 minutes. But the actual game time is only 60 minutes. So you have less than a one in four chance of actually tuning into a game in progress.
College basketball is a bit better. You have a one in three chance of getting the game when you tune in.
@dfohio Less TV commercial time with soccer?
@johnldeboer No TV commercial time with soccer, except at halftime. There are small in-picture banner ads during the game, but no interruptions for commercials. The two 45-minute halves each last 45 minutes, with extra time added at the referee's discretion to compensate for delays due to injuries, substitutions, etc. It's a great change from other televised sports.
@dfohio So I’t’s 90 minutes of dead time a game broken up into two segments? That’s why it isn’t popular on American TV, which depends on multiple 2- minute ads to fill the dead time, interspersed with pundit talk at the quarter, halftime and 2-minute warning breaks. One thing that I don’t like about soccer is the unknown end of game time. At least in football, there’s a clock you can depend on.
@johnldeboer The excessive number of commercial interruptions during NFL (and college) games is the main reason I stopped watching football and started watching football (soccer).