September 24, 2004

Televised College Football: Too Much Of A Good Thing?

FROM THE TIME-IS-MONEY DEPARTMENT comes acknowledgement that college football length-of-game totals are approaching the outer limits of tolerability.

Not surprisingly, television has been the culprit in stretching out games. The average length of all televised games was 3 hours, 26 minutes (non-televised games averaged 3:02).

While all parties concerned agree that reducing TV timeouts is not an option, there is no clear consensus on how else to shorten game times.

Among the alternatives:

� Keep the clock running after a first down.

� Restart the clock when the ball is marked ready for play after an incompletion and after a ball carrier goes out of bounds.

Meanwhile, NFL games average 3:06, and all their games are televised. The difference? The 40-second play clock and restarting the clock on the referee�s signal.

This is a tough issue to resolve. Three and a half hour games are not good for players, spectators or TV viewers. However, much of the funding that drives these football programs is sourced from TV rights packages.

�We�ve succumbed to television. They pay a lot of our bills,� says Miami coach Larry Coker.

Sometimes you don�t know when you�ve had too much of a good thing until you�ve already had too much of a good thing.

Stay tuned . . . .

Average length of football games in the six major conferences for the 2003 season:

ACC
Non-TV: 3:01
TV: 3:24

Big East
Non-TV: 3:12
TV: 3:20

Big Ten
Non-TV: 3:05
TV: 3:13

Big 12
Non-TV: 3:09
TV: 3:23

Pac-10
Non-TV: 3:20
TV: 3:23

SEC
Non-TV: 3:00
TV: 3:22

Avg. six major conferences
Non-TV: 3:08
TV: 3:21

Source: I-A conferences

(this 212 word excerpt�with attendant commentary�was distilled from a 945 word article in the USA Today of 9-22-04)