One complaint that appears to be pretty common when watching an NFL game is there is too much time wasted after a touchdown or a field goal. The pattern of score-commercial-kickoff-commercial has long been a bother to fans watching at home. That pattern may not be altered just yet, but the NFL is hoping to keep the pace moving quickly enough to alleviate some of those viewing frustrations.
Pro Football Talk reports a note has been added to the NFL’s rule book regarding the procedures to be implemented immediately following a post-touchdown scoring attempt, be it a two-point conversion or an extra-point attempt. Teams will have 40 seconds to get the kickoff units on the field after the conclusion of the post-touchdown scoring opportunity. That 40-second clock is to start immediately after the scoring try. Once those 40 seconds expire, the 25-second clock for the kickoff will commence. It is conceivable the ensuing kickoff will take less than a minute after the extra point attempt occurs.
That sounds good from a viewing standpoint, but there is a catch. That clock management will not be in effect when a commercial break timeout is in play. For now, no changes to that part of the game broadcast appears to be changing, so the agony of having to watch an extra-point followed by a commercial followed by the kickoff followed by another commercial is still very much a reality.
The NFL remains king of the castle when it comes to sports and television, but it should be mindful of attempts to pick up the pace of a game other leagues are experimenting with. The NBA recently announced a change to how the final few minutes of a game will be managed, with fewer timeouts allowed. Three timeouts in football still feels about right, and the two-minute warning is not going away any time soon, but attempts like this to speed up the flow of the game following a score should help at least a little bit over the course of a game, especially if there’s plenty of scoring.
