TV Timeouts are Ruining College Football 3 Minutes at a Time

Ever since I can remember, at some point on Saturday, my dad would head to the living room and tune in to the University of Southern California (USC) football game for an exciting and action-packed night of college football. A few years ago, I too became a fan of USC, and found myself frequently staying up late to watch the games. Then, a few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend a USC football game in person. With all the noise and history, the atmosphere of the game was unforgettable. However, the game seemed to never end, with extremely frequent and long breaks in the action. Eventually, I caught on. Each time the action stopped, a timer started, and a man with a red hat walked out onto the field.
According to The Athletic, college football games have a timeout format of 3-4-3-4 (three TV timeouts in the first and 3rd quarters, and four in the second and fourth quarters), or 4-4-4-4 (four TV timeouts in every quarter). These timeouts range from around 2-3 minutes depending on the situation, meaning that some games may spend 48 minutes in commercial breaks alone. In comparison with college football, the NFL requires 16 TV timeouts per game, but each break can not exceed two minutes, meaning that most NFL games likely spend a maximum of 32 minutes in TV timeouts. However, this is not the total time spent watching commercials, as in both NFL and college football games, there are other commercial breaks that do not count as TV timeouts. It is harder to know how long these breaks are, or how many of them occur per game, but with these breaks included, both college football and NFL football games each have around 45 minutes of commercials.
Now, understanding that both levels of football experience roughly the same amount of time in commercial breaks, what makes NFL games feel so much faster and action-packed? Well, the structure of TV timeouts in NFL games is much more regulated. In each half, the NFL requires 8 TV timeouts. One of these timeouts always comes at the end of the first quarter or third quarter, and the other at the 2-minute warning for the half. The other six are usually fit in during stoppages in play, such as after a touchdown, turnover (punt, fumble, or interception), or when a player is injured or a play requires official review. College football also follows these rules, but they do not follow any more. One significant difference is that the NFL does not allow two TV timeouts in a row, which helps a lot with the flow of the game. For example, while I was at the USC game, at one point in the game, there were 2 TV timeouts within 12 game seconds of each other. This made for 6 minutes away from the action, which was extremely frustrating for everyone in attendance. In addition to all of this, NFL organizations make a huge effort each week to keep fans entertained during TV timeouts through cheerleading shows, jumbotron games, fan cams, fan races, etc. Although this could vary from school to school, from my experience, college football games severely lack this kind of entertainment, which worsens the fan experience.
Due to the extreme length of TV timeouts, as well as the lack of regulations surrounding their structure, TV timeouts in college football are making games longer and interfering with the flow of the game, which deteriorates the overall experience of watching college football games both in person and on TV. In order to improve the viewing experience of college football, the NCAA, as well as the TV networks that televise their games, should start to mimic the structure of TV timeouts in the NFL, where timeouts are much shorter and cannot happen back-to-back. This would make college football games shorter and would create a better and more natural game flow, like that of the NFL. By adopting a more streamlined approach to TV timeouts, similar to the NFL’s model, college football can enhance the pacing and enjoyment of its games, benefiting fans and players alike.