NFL looking to improve pace of play (1 Viewer)

Goodell has sent out a letter discussing how the league is looking to improve the pace of play by centralizing reviews and cutting down on commercial breaks.

Less commercial breaks?

Less commercial breaks as in shrinking the screen during the broadcast to display an ad like they experimented with last year?

After a scoring play is the worst. Commercials before and after the kickoff sucks....even more so given kickoffs rarely matter anymore. 

I'd really like to see NFL HQ make the final decision on the replays instead of the referee. I would imagine there would be much more consistency in the calls instead of having different refs having different interpretations.

The amount of commercial breaks has to be cut down.  Having a commercial break after a TD then after the kick off is ridiculous.  The same goes for commercial breaks after every change of possession.  I've always felt that halftime was too long also.  I always hated halftime back in high school, cooling down and having to stretch again before the second half.

The amount of commercial time will stay the same, just the number will increase.  Sounds good to me. I'd rather have longer, less frequent commercial breaks.  Gives me time to get food ready, pour a new drink, walk the dog, do some laundry, wash my car, etc. before the game returns.

What they should do is do it like Soccer.  Have little popups in the corner during the game and long commercial breaks during halftime.  That would suck for players though, that rely on the breaks caused by TV Timeouts.

Yeah no matter what the fans say the NFL will still try to cram more commercials into the broadcast any way they can. 

Momentum doesn't really exist in NFL drives anymore. It is worse being at the game, watching how much players stand around waiting for commercials.

Reduce the number of penalties called, the time it takes to announce them (have a Publuc Announcer official do it over loudspeaker instead of a guy like Hochuli making a production out of it), and dump replay completely.

And eject guys that dance around like idiots after tackling a guy that just gained six yards.

Do we really have to shorten the game Bc a bunch of short attention span millennial can't focus long enough to watch a game?

I Dvr all the games, start em about an hour later......

I don't like all the commercials either.......but it's easy to work around.

steelers1080 said:

The amount of commercial time will stay the same, just the number will increase.  Sounds good to me. I'd rather have longer, less frequent commercial breaks.  Gives me time to get food ready, pour a new drink, walk the dog, do some laundry, wash my car, etc. before the game returns.

What they should do is do it like Soccer.  Have little popups in the corner during the game and long commercial breaks during halftime.  That would suck for players though, that rely on the breaks caused by TV Timeouts.

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The reason they can't do this is exactly what you just said. They know everyone would just leave during the larger breaks to do just that.

domvin said:

Do we really have to shorten the game Bc a bunch of short attention span millennial can't focus long enough to watch a game?

I Dvr all the games, start em about an hour later......

I don't like all the commercials either.......but it's easy to work around.

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So people who don't like the length of the game/frequency of interruptions are "short attention span millennials"...but you also don't like it, to the point where you wait an extra hour to even start watching the games, and that's fine. 

This country is full of morons stuck in their own head space , stewing in their own opinions, I swear. 

domvin said:

Do we really have to shorten the game Bc a bunch of short attention span millennial can't focus long enough to watch a game?

I Dvr all the games, start em about an hour later......

I don't like all the commercials either.......but it's easy to work around.

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I DVR everything except sports.  I like to know what's going on when it happens and the commercial breaks give me a chance to grab a snack/drink or whatever.  

There are too many commercial breaks but if I feel the need, I'll just pause the game after a touchdown and come back a few minutes later, ff to catch up and not miss anything (if there's a kick return I'll see it). 

The penalties kill the momentum more than the breaks.  Seems every play we need to look for the flag. 

they need to improve much more than just pace of play. like what a catch is. 

-OZ- said:

I DVR everything except sports.  I like to know what's going on when it happens and the commercial breaks give me a chance to grab a snack/drink or whatever.  

There are too many commercial breaks but if I feel the need, I'll just pause the game after a touchdown and come back a few minutes later, ff to catch up and not miss anything (if there's a kick return I'll see it). 

The penalties kill the momentum more than the breaks.  Seems every play we need to look for the flag. 

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Exactly.  Sports are the one thing that I don't DVR.  That's something I need to see live.

I don't have too big of an issue with the amount of commercials other than before and after kickoffs.  It's just annoying more than anything.

I completely agree with the penalties.  If the officials feel like it they will throw a flag every single down on a drive.  Then the amount of time they take trying to interpret the rules is just asinine.  I think the NFL should feel embarrassed when it comes to determining what a catch is.

steelers1080 said:

The amount of commercial time will stay the same, just the number will increase.  Sounds good to me. I'd rather have longer, less frequent commercial breaks.  Gives me time to get food ready, pour a new drink, walk the dog, do some laundry, wash my car, etc. before the game returns.

What they should do is do it like Soccer.  Have little popups in the corner during the game and long commercial breaks during halftime.  That would suck for players though, that rely on the breaks caused by TV Timeouts.

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It would also hurt the NFL as I doubt sponsors will be paying the same amount of money just so they can get their ad stuck into a block of halftime ads that they know no one will be watching. I'd love it of course, but I don't see it working.

ConnSKINS26 said:

So people who don't like the length of the game/frequency of interruptions are "short attention span millennials"...but you also don't like it, to the point where you wait an extra hour to even start watching the games, and that's fine. 

This country is full of morons stuck in their own head space , stewing in their own opinions, I swear. 

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Correct, I still enjoy watching football, but not all of the commercials.   I don't have time for it

I can focus on something, but I just don't have the time between mass, coaching, and everything else that I do on a Sunday.

I question the timing of it.

It's a difference between time, and.......focus.    And I was trying to point out there is a simple workaround on it....

Commercials in games has been a problem for years, and now we are going to address it?   Why so important now?

Saw a stat....by 2020, millennials will outnumber all other workers in the US.    Huge influence

And there is a huge problem with checking your phone every 2 minutes to see who did what on facebook, twitter, whatever else....it's isolation from interacting with humans, talking, with one another.     That short attention span where you pick up your phone just to check it, hold it, look at it....

So, for me, it appears the NFL is trying to rectify what has Been an on going issue only now, and that is too many commercials 

Now, this is purely my moronic opinion, but I must be going, I need to update my status and tell you all about my important decisions today.

domvin said:

Correct, I still enjoy watching football, but not all of the commercials.   I don't have time for it

I can focus on something, but I just don't have the time between mass, coaching, and everything else that I do on a Sunday.

I question the timing of it.

It's a difference between time, and.......focus.    And I was trying to point out there is a simple workaround on it....

Commercials in games has been a problem for years, and now we are going to address it?   Why so important now?

Saw a stat....by 2020, millennials will outnumber all other workers in the US.    Huge influence

And there is a huge problem with checking your phone every 2 minutes to see who did what on facebook, twitter, whatever else....it's isolation from interacting with humans, talking, with one another.     That short attention span where you pick up your phone just to check it, hold it, look at it....

So, for me, it appears the NFL is trying to rectify what has Been an on going issue only now, and that is too many commercials 

Now, this is purely my moronic opinion, but I must be going, I need to update my status and tell you all about my important decisions today.

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You still don't see why what you said was dumb? Let me try a different way, this is basically what you said: "I don't like watching all the commercials, so I watch the game on a tape delay. But they're making changes because millennials have no attention span to watch commercials". 

This entire board has been complaining about commercials and the NFL product for years and years, and the millennial population here is low compared to most of the Internet. Millennials don't really do message boards. 

It's just silly to say it's fine that you don't like something, but when another group also doesn't like it, you assume its because of a fundamental lack of focus/ability to pay attention. Nobody likes the NFL product much right now, because it's a bad product due to pacing and commercials. Regardless of generation. 

When I'm watching football on a Sunday I'm on the Red Zone channel all day.  No commercials for me.  If I'm trying to just watch the Bears game I'm either at the bar with friends so I don't pay attention to the commercials or if I'm at home I change the channel to another game.  I rarely ever pay any attention to commercials.

The only times I watch commercials are when I'm watching a fishing show and that's because all the commercials pertain to fishing equipment that I'm interested in.  Seeing commercials about cars and beer do not interest me nor will they influence my buying habits.

Hawkeye21 said:

When I'm watching football on a Sunday I'm on the Red Zone channel all day.  No commercials for me.  If I'm trying to just watch the Bears game I'm either at the bar with friends so I don't pay attention to the commercials or if I'm at home I change the channel to another game.  I rarely ever pay any attention to commercials.

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This for me as well.

I don't DVR the NFL because I like being able to check my fantasy scores in real-time, but without Red Zone it would be impossible not to.

I'll put the SNF and MNF games on, but unless the Eagles are on it's as background noise while I do something else around the house. The 2-4 times a year my team plays in prime time I'm always reminded of how ####### intolerable watching a full NFL game in real time can be.

Mr. Irrelevant said:

This for me as well.

I don't DVR the NFL because I like being able to check my fantasy scores in real-time, but without Red Zone it would be impossible not to.

I'll put the SNF and MNF games on, but unless the Eagles are on it's as background noise while I do something else around the house. The 2-4 times a year my team plays in prime time I'm always reminded of how ####### intolerable watching a full NFL game in real time can be.

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That's why watching a full, live game is best with friends.  Makes it easier to deal with all the random breaks.

Dr. Octopus said:

It would also hurt the NFL as I doubt sponsors will be paying the same amount of money just so they can get their ad stuck into a block of halftime ads that they know no one will be watching. I'd love it of course, but I don't see it working.

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I'm totally looking forward to the goal posts looking like indy cars.  That's where I'd pay if I'm a sponsor. 

ConnSKINS26 said:

You still don't see why what you said was dumb? Let me try a different way, this is basically what you said: "I don't like watching all the commercials, so I watch the game on a tape delay. But they're making changes because millennials have no attention span to watch commercials". 

This entire board has been complaining about commercials and the NFL product for years and years, and the millennial population here is low compared to most of the Internet. Millennials don't really do message boards. 

It's just silly to say it's fine that you don't like something, but when another group also doesn't like it, you assume its because of a fundamental lack of focus/ability to pay attention. Nobody likes the NFL product much right now, because it's a bad product due to pacing and commercials. Regardless of generation. 

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Why is the NFL looking at changing it now?    Bc they heard your cries on this message board or Bc they want to appeal more to the masses???

I don't like overplaying of commercials.....more importantly, I just don't have the time.

Biabreakable said:

Yeah no matter what the fans say the NFL will still try to cram more commercials into the broadcast any way they can. 

Momentum doesn't really exist in NFL drives anymore. It is worse being at the game, watching how much players stand around waiting for commercials.

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I couldn't disagree more. Ratings are down 8% across the board for NFL games.  That is going to directly result in a loss of revenue.  The NFL is earnest in trying to identify the causes and find a solution.

Some thoughts, that have been milled about in numerous other threads at other times:

Do not allow the commercial break after a kickoff.  Terrible spot for it.  The offense is coming off the sideline.  They have been talking and are ready to go.  The last thing they want to do is prolong that and slowly mill onto the field after a kickoff.  The reason for fans hating this break is obvious.

No commercial break after an initial 3 and out or a turnover in the initial set of downs.  Stick with the punt and/or ensuing drive - no exceptions.

Don't go to commercial after an injury unless a player is prone and a trainer comes out onto the field.  Don't you hate missing the following down just because the network tried to wedge two more commercials in while a player limped off the field?  As soon as the player is upright or loaded onto a cart, that is the signal no more commercials may be started.

While we're at it:

Reviews:  Have a centralized review and make sure someone competent is seeing all the angles TV viewers do.  As soon as evidence determines the outcome end the review and call it.  Nothing worse than a 2 minute review and then the refs getting the call wrong when every viewer in the country incontrovertibly saw what the right call was in the first 15 seconds.  Very very maddening.

Bring a little judgment and common sense back into the game.  Sure you can call holding by a wr 30 yards away from the end of a 3 yd run, but why?  Where did the O gain an advantage?  College basketball got pretty good at figuring out the advantage/disadvantage thing, even though they still miss some.  And how in the 7 Hells does a D lineman get called for D holding on a run play?  Seriously?

Hire and maintain only full time refs and pay them properly.  They can spend the week traveling and reviewing all sorts of past situations to hone their judgment.  Practice Practice Practice.  Just like the players.  The games will flow much better and the calls will be much much better.

Get rid of the freakin Thursday games.  Thursdays are for high school JV games.  Thanksgiving excepted.  Same for Saturday games.  Same for freakin overseas games.  No, I don't and won't watch Jax/Cle at 9:00 Sunday morning.  No one else wants to either.  Even their own fans want to wait until the first flight of games start.  Make the game an event again, not just another game.

Want to squeeze in more games?  Concede to the NFLPA and go to an 18 game/2 bye season.  There's your extra weekend of games.   Plus players should be healthier.  But start before Labor Day.  The Super Bowl needs to be played in January, not February.  Period.

Just spillballin'

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