Real Talk Co.

Today I’ll be explaining how long a typical NFL game takes.

Maybe you’re like me, and you got your first look into football and the NFL with the classic Blitz game.

This will be a very useful guide for the casual fan that’s just learning about the mechanics of the sport.

If you’re used to other sports, then you might want to grab your popcorn and sit back to enjoy the show because it’s going to be much longer than what you’re used to.

There’s a few points to cover, but we’re going to make it as easy as possible to understand.

So without further ado, let’s get into it.

How long is a typical NFL game?

It usually takes hours, which is different from most sports events. It’ll take an hour minimum and that’s at all levels, and in the NFL it’s 3 at least. But it can get to be a longer game depending if it goes to overtime.

One of the longest sports

As the heading suggests, American football is one of the longest sports that you can play in the world.

A hockey game usually takes 2 hours and 20 minutes on average.

Basketball usually takes 2 hours and 18 minutes usually.

Baseball can take 2 hours and 56 minutes on average.

And then there’s football that usually takes 3 hours and 10 minutes.

It’s the only sport (at least popular one) that reaches the 3 hour mark.

Scheduled for 60

As said before, there’s 60 minutes that make up the game clock for an official football game.

So at this point, you’re probably wondering “what makes it add up to a run time of over 3 hours with only an hour of regulation?”

Well there’s a lot of things that play a role in it extending way over the hour that’s applied.

For starters, the halftime shows take up at least half an hour, and that’s if things start on time.

There’s also penalties that get reviewed, and challenges to take into account as well.

10 extra for overtime

Another thing to take in account with a football game in the NFL is the possibility of having the game go into overtime.

When the game goes past regulation, they slap on another 10 minutes.

This is actually an opportunity to point out one of the differences between college ball and pro games.

Although you get 10 minutes on the clock, the game ends immediately after a team scores.

But with college, both teams get the chance to do something with the ball, regardless of who scores first (wow, that puts things in perspective when you think about it).

College football can be longer than a pro game because of that difference.

Varies by country

On top of the reasons that were given about why a football game could last so long in the NFL, they can actually differ depending on the country it’s being shown in.

Commercials have to be taken into account, because each country has different slots of times that they show commercials or have breaks in between.

One event that’s known to have extra long segments of commercials is during the super bowl.

There’s actually people who watch the super bowl just for the commercials they show.

It can be seen as an attraction for the game itself.