In recent years, college football games have gotten noticeably longer with the game clock stopping more and more often as teams pass the ball more frequently, leading to more incompletions and clock stoppages. And it sounds like the NCAA is moving closer toward changes that would keep the clock running more often in an attempt to shorten games.
According to a report from Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, college football executives are “moving closer” to several rule changes that they believe will speed up the game and lead to fewer clock stoppages.
While these plans include a few relatively minor and uncontroversial changes like banning back-to-back timeouts and eliminating untimed downs between quarters, the proposal also includes a plan to keep the clock rolling during first downs and incomplete passes.
“Executives of the sport are moving closer to recommending several clock rule changes meant to reduce plays for both safety and game length reasons, multiple officials tell Sports Illustrated. They include proposals that call for the clock to continue to run after first downs and incomplete passes,” Dellenger wrote.
It’s an extremely controversial plan, and the college football world was definitely not happy about it with many pointing out that the biggest reason for the length of games is the number of commercials.
No one treats their audience worse than college football execs.
The problem is not the amount of plays in a game. The problem is 4+ minute commercial breaks, whether the game is on ESPN+ or CBS. https://t.co/m9VZhzeSUu
— Scott Kushner (@ScottDKushner) February 20, 2023
The most stunning part of this piece: "Television commercials don’t impact game time significantly. From 2018-2020, games not televised finished only about two minutes sooner than those televised." https://t.co/Khx664b3CB
— Tony Gerdeman (@TonyGerdeman) February 20, 2023
Then college football needs a 2 minute warning, but keep the 20 minute halftime. https://t.co/odiwJpIKpy
— Brian Bookwalter (@BrianBookwalter) February 20, 2023
The clock running after incomplete passes? Excuse me https://t.co/6Bdi7dCRTQ
— CFBNumbers (@CFBNumbers) February 20, 2023
But how could we add time for more commercials is the real question we should be asking… 1-3 are fine; 4 stinks. https://t.co/La3ssP8l9J
— Colten Kelso (@ColtenKelso64) February 20, 2023
They will do everything in sports to reduce game times except for improving the ad experience.
Let's fundamentally change the rules of the game so Fox can go commercial-kickoff-commercial and keep your eyeballs glued to the TV for four hours under the guise of "player safety."… https://t.co/0Uiy8b5q2q
— Anthony Broome (@anthonytbroome) February 20, 2023
We’ll have to see if these rule changes actually go into effect, and how they are received among fans if they do.
