Wall Street Journal analyzes how much game-action we get when watching sports

[RyGuy45]

Small sample but interesting nonetheless...


View media item 498322

In America's Pastime, Baseball Players Pass A Lot of Time
The findings: 90% of the game is spent standing around.
The Wall Street Journal

By WSJ calculations, a baseball fan will see 17 minutes and 58 seconds of action over the course of a three-hour game. This is roughly the equivalent of a TED Talk, a Broadway intermission or the missing section of the Watergate tapes.

The WSJ reached this number by taking the stopwatch to three different games and timing everything that happened. We then categorized the parts of the game that could fairly be considered "action" and averaged the results. The almost 18-minute average included balls in play, runner advancement attempts on stolen bases, wild pitches, pitches (balls, strikes, fouls and balls hit into play), trotting batters (on home runs, walks and hit-by-pitches), pickoff throws and even one fake-pickoff throw. This may be generous. If we'd cut the action definition down to just the time when everyone on the field is running around looking for something to do (balls in play and runner advancement attempts), we'd be down to 5:47.
....
This season's average game time of three hours and three minutes is the longest game duration since Stats LLC started tracking the numbers in 1987, the firm said. In 1987, the average was two hours, 52 minutes.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...0.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsFifth

Average MLB game:
3 hours, three minutes

74 minutes, 49 seconds - Total time between pitches
42 minutes, 41 seconds - Total time between innings
33 minutes, 39 seconds - Total time between batters
17 minutes, 58 seconds - Total game action


Previous study (2010) on NFL game:

Average NFL game:
2 hours, 54 minutes

67 minutes - Total time spent on shots of players huddling or standing
60 minutes - Total time for commercials
17 minutes - Total time spent on replays
12 minutes - Total time spent on shots of head coaches and referees
11 minutes - Total game action

 

[bruhman 5th flo]

I don't understand how someone can watch baseball.

 

[CP1708]

Ironic that baseball is considered the "boring sport" yet averages more action than the "exciting" NFL.

That's a helluva study. Gotta be time consuming as hell.

 

[dmbrhs]

Ironic that baseball is considered the "boring sport" yet averages more action than the "exciting" NFL.

That's a helluva study. Gotta be time consuming as hell.

People will just argue that it means each play is more important, which makes it more exciting.

 

[RyGuy45]

Look at the system the NFL has too just on Sundays....for 11 total minutes of their on-field product action they are getting to stretch out a 2,3,4 hour pregame show, a 3 hour telecast, then a postgame show. Amazing.

NFL telecasts now are 35% commercials (I would have guessed higher too). No wonder I can't sit through games anymore.

 

[nazdrowie]

Look at the system the NFL has too just on Sundays....for 11 total minutes of their on-field product action they are getting to stretch out a 2,3,4 hour pregame show, a 3 hour telecast, then a postgame show. Amazing.

NFL telecasts now are 35% commercials (I would have guessed higher too). No wonder I can't sit through games anymore.

the commercial breaks are what kill me about nfl games...

at least with mlb games, they take commercial break between innings or pitching changes.