Pac-12 officials hope to cut run times of games that in past years have gone well past 3 hoursGETTY IMAGES
The Pac-12 has "expanded an initiative to shorten football game times," according to Anne Peterson of the AP. This season, 30 games will have "shorter halftimes and restructured commercial breaks, among other time-saving measures." That is "up from a test run of 15 nonconference games last season." The idea is to "cut the run-times on games that in recent years have routinely gone well past the three-hour mark." In addition to the "quicker halftimes and fewer commercial breaks, kickoffs were moved closer to the start of the broadcast window." The idea was to also "make sure games on the network did not overlap for fans watching at home." In those 15 games, average length was "reduced from 3:19 to 3:14, with eight games coming in under the 3:14 mark." The expanded program will "include some league games aired on Fox Sports and ESPN." On a national level, the NCAA has also been "implementing measures to shorten games, including enforcement of 20-minute halftimes -- which sometimes stray longer." Last year, that "cut FBS-level games by more than four minutes" (AP, 9/4).
