How long does the average NFL football game last? Whether you’re a football fan who is trying to plan out your day or someone who can’t wait for the game to be over so you can take back the remote, we’ve got you covered.
NFL and NCAA games are 60 minutes, consisting of four 15-minute quarters. However, anyone who has watched football before knows that with timeouts, reviews, commercials, halftime, and more, it takes significantly longer than an hour to complete a game. Let’s examine how long it typically takes to finish an NFL and NCAA game.
How Long Is a Football Game?
The average NFL game reportedly takes three hours and 12 minutes to complete. In contrast, the average length of a college football game is three hours and 24 minutes.
If you’re curious about the average length of the Super Bowl broadcast over the last 20 years, it takes roughly three-and-a-half hours.
With more commercial breaks and a lengthy halftime show, it’s no surprise that it’s a bit longer than a typical regular-season game or playoff matchup.
How Long Is Halftime of a Football Game?
The length of halftime also varies depending on if it’s an NFL or NCAA game. In the NFL, the average halftime lasts 12 minutes. Meanwhile, in college football, halftime is 20 minutes, which helps explain why the average NCAA game takes 12 minutes longer.
As previously mentioned, the Super Bowl halftime show is significantly longer and a huge draw for fans, so it typically lasts anywhere from 20-to-30 minutes.
How Much Live Action Is There Throughout an NFL Game?
Throughout the three-plus hours that you’re watching an NFL game, there is generally just 15-to-20 minutes of live action. The average NFL contest has roughly 18 minutes of actual gameplay, with more than 100 plays jammed into those 18 minutes. This average has increased, as there were just 11 minutes of live action back in 2010, per the Wall Street Journal.
How can a 60-minute game that takes three hours to complete have just 18 minutes of actual football? Well, it’s due to the NFL’s rules and clock, with plenty of stoppages, replays, timeouts, commercials, etc.
Of the major sports, football has the least active time. Baseball is the closest at just over 20 minutes. Meanwhile, the NBA, NHL, and English Premier League all have over 45 minutes of live action on average.
However, it is somewhat unfair to judge the NFL harshly on this. Much of what happens before the snap is as important as what happens after the snap. The chess match of an NFL game is played between the offense and defense before the ball reaches the quarterback’s hands. In that sense, football is very different from a sport like basketball or soccer.
How Many Commercials Are There During Football Games?
On average, around 25% of the NFL broadcast is commercials. In three hours, that ends up being approximately 45 minutes of advertisements.
There are around 15-to-25 commercials per quarter, adding up to as many as 100+ commercials in total during a football game.
Chiefs vs. Eagles Super Bowl Preview
Based on PFN’s win probability model, which ran 10,000 simulations via the PFN Playoff Predictor, the Eagles have a 52.8% chance of defeating the Chiefs.
The Chiefs are aiming to become the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls. Kansas City has won three of the last five Super Bowls and will be the first NFL team to play in five Super Bowls over a six-season span.
This is Philadelphia’s third Super Bowl appearance in the last eight seasons. The Eagles defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII and lost to the Chiefs two seasons ago in Super Bowl LVII.
Kansas City Chiefs Trends and Insights
- The Chiefs have 17 straight one-score wins (12-0 this season, their last three playoff games last year, and their last two regular season games). Twelve one-score wins is the most in a single season all-time, tied with the 2022 Vikings, 2019 Seahawks, and 2015 Broncos.
- Patrick Mahomes passed Joe Montana for the second-most playoff wins by a starting quarterback (17) and John Elway for the second-most playoff game-winning drives by a quarterback (seven).
- From 2019-24, the Chiefs have made six Super Bowl appearances, are chasing a fourth title, and have won 78% of their regular season games. For reference, the Splash Brother Golden State Warriors (2015-19, 2022) made six NBA Finals appearances with four titles and won 76.2% of their regular season games.
- The Chiefs have averaged over 2.5 points per offensive drive in four straight games when playing their regulars – that’s a good formula, as NFL teams have won 78.9% of their games this season when clearing 2.50 PPD.
- During his career, Mahomes has averaged 3.9 carries for 20 yards and 0.13 touchdowns on the ground during the regular season. In the postseason, those rates elevated to 5.4 attempts, 29.1 yards, and 0.35 touchdowns per game.
Philadelphia Eagles Trends and Insights
- The Eagles peaked early last season and scored 155 points over a five-game win streak (Weeks 7-12). Over their past five games, they’ve scored 166 points.
- Jalen Hurts ran for three scores in his prior Super Bowl experience, joining Terrell Davis as the only player to do that in The Big Game. With his three rushing scores on Sunday, Hurts joined LeGarrette Blount as the only players in NFL history with multiple playoff games in which they ran for three-plus touchdowns.
- Philadelphia has forced 19 turnovers in their past six games, a run that includes four games with three-plus.
- The Eagles became the sixth team to have multiple players rush for multiple scores in a playoff game, the first since Rex Burkhead and Sony Michel did it for the 2018 Patriots.
- Since 2022, the Eagles are 18-8 ATS (69.2%) when facing a team that enters play with at least as many wins as losses (second best, trailing only the 20-6-1 Lions).
- Hurts will become the eighth quarterback to start multiple Super Bowls within his first eight seasons. Of the previous seven, only Elway failed to secure a ring within his first five seasons—though Elway would famously cap off his career with Super Bowl victories in his final two seasons.
