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Football: Changing pace

Speeding up a return to play after a timeout could cut the amount of down time in a game.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
The NFL is trying to figure out how to make its game more alluring. At the end of the day, the over three-hour game has just 14 minutes of actual play.

Ratings softened but didn’t plunge last year. Still, as the attention-deficit millennial generation continues to emerge as consumers, the league knows it must speed up games.

The question is whether shaving five minutes — the amount the league hopes to cut this year — off a game that lasts an average of three hours and seven minutes is enough. The league plans to get there by reducing on-field stoppage of play and streamlining replays.

Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Broadcasting & Sports, said he is on board with the current changes. But asked if the league approached him about fewer ads, perhaps the only surefire way to seriously dent game lengths, he said no.

The league insists its changes are about pace, though, not length of game. Tod Leiweke, the COO of the NFL, told the Leaders Sport Business Summit last month that the league is fine with a three-hour game. That comment elicited snickers from the audience largely composed of Europeans, who are accustomed to a two-hour window for a soccer match.

The league also is looking at other ways of adding entertainment, including loosening up its celebration rules that have been mocked endlessly as creating the No Fun League.

— Daniel Kaplan

BILL POLIAN

Pro Football Hall of Famer; former team executive with Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts; served on the NFL’s competition committee


SUGGESTION: Eliminate the automatic review after a touchdown.
“This is nothing more than ‘replay creep.’ It is calls such as these that the challenge system was created to deal with. Again, we are talking seconds but that is what is left to save. Under no circumstances should we expand non-challenge replay in any form. If you believe that you can get every call right by expanding replay, you must, concomitantly, accept the fact that you will significantly lengthen the game.”

SUGGESTION: Speed up penalty announcements
“Some referees move the game very efficiently. They speed up crew conferences and make their announcements quickly, others dawdle. Everyone must hustle. We also do not need the Gettysburg Address in announcing penalties. As the saying goes ‘just the facts.’ ‘76 Denver holding.’ Here is where technology can help. The referee would not even have to stop the game to make the announcement if he simply spoke into his mike while spotting the ball and his words were displayed on the ribbon and scoreboards. … He could give his explanation of the ruling while moving back to his position.”

SUGGESTION: Speed up return to play after timeout
“Players and coaches must also give a little in order to save time. We should expand the rule used in college basketball. With a minute to go in any timeout both teams must be on the field, lined up, and ready to go. Once they are given the one-minute warning, no substitutions on either side are allowed. The penalty in this situation for illegal substitution would be 10 yards. With 30 seconds to go in the timeout, both teams must be over the ball ready to snap it.”

AMY TRASK
CBS Sports Network studio analyst and former CEO, Oakland Raiders

SUGGESTION: Allow more celebrations

Should NFL players have a say in the types of celebrations that are allowed?
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
“I would make dramatic changes to rules regarding celebrations. The league has indicated that it intends to do so, but the changes I would make would be more sweeping than those I imagine the league will make. I would penalize a celebration only if it caused a delay of game or if a celebrating player touched a player on the opposing team (intentionally or inadvertently) while celebrating. I would include players in the decision-making process (and think it’s terrific the league has indicated it intends to do so), as players are partners in revenue sharing and as such have an incentive to craft these rule changes in the manner best suited to improve the flow of the game and to reduce the risk of alienating fans.”

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