Football is one of the most popular sports in the United States.
Every season, football fans flock to their local stadiums or to their TVs to cheer on their favorite teams.
However, some people find the sport quite boring.
From too many ads to recent NFL rulings, here are 10 reasons why some people find football boring.
Why Is Football So Boring? (10 Possible Reasons)
1. Length Of The Game
One of the reasons that people find football boring is because of how long it takes to finish the game.
Back in high school, football games tended to last a little over an hour.
In college football and the NFL, it’s a different story.
Football games can last three hours or more.
There are tons of reasons why the game lasts as long as it does.
On paper, the game should really only last one hour.
That’s because each quarter is 15 minutes.
However, the game doesn’t have a continuous clock like other sports.
It gets stopped every time the ball changes hands or a touchdown occurs.
There are several other reasons why the game clock stops, too.
Throw in halftime and commercial breaks, and you have a lengthy football game.
The problem with long football games is that they can make the experience boring.
People at home are stuck watching the game for several hours before they can go and do something else.
It becomes boring because all they’re doing is sitting and watching the game.
Even those who are at the stadium might experience boredom because of how long the game takes.
They have to wait for the teams to get set up every time the clock stops before the action continues.
Constantly having to cheer for as long as one does at a football game can also be exhausting.
Some fans may simply run out of energy by the time the game is over.
At that point, due to a lack of energy, they might find certain parts of the game quite boring.
Football is sometimes boring because the games seem to drag on for a long time.
2. Commercial Breaks
Another reason that football games are boring is because of the large number of commercial breaks.
According to CBS, an average NFL fan will end up watching around 24 hours of commercials during the regular season.
That’s an entire day’s worth of doing nothing but watching commercials.
There’s no shortage of commercials during a football game.
Besides making the game last far longer than it should, commercials do something else to the sport.
They can make it boring.
Sports fans watch games for the players and teams.
They don’t watch them for commercials.
An exception is the Super Bowl, which famously airs some of the most memorable commercials ever.
For standard football games, however, viewers typically have to watch the same old commercials that they’d see anywhere else.
Those who are watching at home have an easier time of it.
They can use the commercial breaks to use the bathroom or load up on more snacks.
If they don’t need to do anything during the break, however, then they’re stuck sitting and watching the ads until the game comes back.
This becomes especially frustrating when the game only lasts for five minutes before more commercials come on.
It can make watching the game boring since it feels more like watching commercials than an actual sport.
Those in the stadium have it even worse.
They’re stuck sitting in the stadium until the commercial break ends.
Not every stadium will air the commercials either, so some spectators must sit and wait for the commercial to end so that the players can get back to playing.
Football is sometimes boring because much of the time spent watching the game is watching commercials.
3. The Action Frequently Stops And Starts
The action that occurs in a football game isn’t continuous.
There are a few seconds where actual gameplay happens, then the rest of the time is either switching sides or getting players into position.
While there is a game clock that keeps ticking during certain plays, it also sometimes stops to give players bonus time to get arranged on the field.
If the team already knows what plays they want to run, then they might take their time getting into position.
This is also true of teams who are trying to run down the clock.
The problem with this is that it doesn’t make for a very exciting game.
Fans become stuck watching players slowly meander to their positions.
There isn’t always a rush, so the field can feel quite unenergetic.
Without the players looking energetic, then the fans have no reason to be either.
It can make them feel bored instead.
Another problem is the running game versus the passing game.
If one team prefers to run the ball, then it can make the game quite boring.
That’s because when the ball is run, a lot of short movements occur over a long period.
While there are exciting points of this style of play, they’re few and far between.
Throwing the ball is a bit more exciting.
Fans can watch players run their hearts out down the field in an attempt to catch the ball.
Big plays are possible when the ball gets tossed.
It’s more dramatic and the field seems more energetic.
Instead of seeing players get gridlocked at the line of scrimmage, fans can watch the players run downfield hard.
It’s far more exciting to watch.
Football is sometimes boring because the action on the field tends to stop frequently which isn’t the most exciting thing to watch.
4. Lack Of A Halftime Show
Everyone knows that the Super Bowl offers some of the best entertainment of the football season.
That isn’t always the case for other NFL games, though.
While some games might feature a celebrity musician to sing the National Anthem or perform a halftime show, that isn’t always something you can count on.
College games, for example, might rely on their drum corps or bands to provide entertainment.
NFL games might have a halftime show, but it won’t be a spectacle quite as grand as what happens during the Super Bowl.
Because of this, the halftime show can feel quite boring to fans.
It’s even worse for people at home.
In most cases, people who are watching the game at home don’t get to watch the halftime show.
Instead, they have to watch ad after ad until halftime is over.
They may find the process quite boring since they have to wait for 15 minutes for the game to start once more.
Those in the stadium might get some entertainment out of it.
However, if they don’t care for the entertainment, then they might find the experience quite boring and lackluster as well.
They just want the players to get back on the field and the game to continue.
While players need breaks, halftime also lasts a long time.
It isn’t five or even 10 minutes.
It’s slated for 15 minutes.
That’s the length of an entire quarter of football.
Because of the extra time that it adds to the game, some might find the halftime portion of the game to be quite boring.
Football is sometimes boring because of the lackluster halftime show, or because no entertainment is offered at all.
5. Some People Don’t Understand The Rules
It’s hard to care about something when you don’t understand what’s going on.
If you’re new to football, then you may find the game boring because you don’t know what’s happening on the field.
Some parts may be obvious.
It’s clear that both teams want to get to the end of the field.
What may be less clear is how they’re able to do so and what it means to score.
For example, you may be a little confused as to why a team gets a second attempt to score points after a touchdown.
You may not understand what it means when a team gets a penalty for being offsides.
When you don’t understand something, it’s difficult to care about it.
You may cheer when a team scores, but you’re not engaged in the process of how the points occurred.
Instead, you’re just watching people run up and down the field.
That may not be the most entertaining thing for you.
If you do understand how the game gets played, then things become a bit more interesting.
You can recognize play formations and guess what a team’s plan is.
You can start making wagers as to who the quarterback is going to favor for a particular play.
If a referee misses a call or gets something wrong, then you can complain about it, loudly, with your fellow fans.
Understanding what’s happening on the field can completely change how you perceive the game.
It makes it more interesting because you’re able to follow it.
Without that understanding, football can be quite boring.
6. Not Your Team
If you dabble in fantasy football, then you probably watch a lot of football.
That said, you probably don’t care about every game that you watch.
Your interest starts and ends with the team you root for and all of the players on your fantasy team.
If you don’t play fantasy football, it’s likely that you don’t watch every NFL game that is aired.
Unless you’re a diehard NFL fan, you probably have your favorite team, coach, or player.
Since they’re your favorites, you probably only watch their games.
You may not care as much about how other teams are doing.
You have a personal connection to your favorite team.
It may be your local team, a team that you grew up cheering for, or you may just enjoy a player on the team.
Whatever the reason, some people simply have a particular team that they enjoy cheering for.
When you watch a game that doesn’t feature your favorite team, then you may find it boring.
You’re not emotionally engaged in the game because it doesn’t impact you personally.
If your team was playing, then you’d have that emotional connection.
You’d care if they lost or won.
Outside of your team, your interest may only be in how other teams stack up against your own.
For example, you may watch a playoff game to see which team may be playing your team down the line.
You may even have a small stake in it.
However, you probably won’t be jumping up and down when one of those teams wins or loses.
The emotional connection isn’t there.
That also means you’ll probably find the majority of the game quite boring.
Since you’re not emotionally engaged in what’s happening, it becomes a very passive experience.
You might even want the game to end so you can watch the game that you actually care about.
Football becomes boring when teams are playing that you don’t have an emotional stake in.
7. No Touchdowns
One of the most exciting parts of football is when a touchdown happens.
No matter if it’s because a player squeezed in past the goal line or if a receiver ran 50 yards to score, touchdowns are fun.
The fans go wild, the players celebrate, and there’s always some sort of celebration or fireworks that go off.
It’s exciting to witness.
However, touchdowns don’t always happen.
There are times when the teams are so evenly matched that they keep each other from being able to score touchdowns.
That can make football quite boring to watch because there isn’t any progression.
Everyone is just waiting for a team to score.
When neither do, the game starts to get stale.
The game becomes boring because there isn’t really much action at all.
Both teams are able to defend their endzones too effectively.
This can also mean that the ball doesn’t move very much on the field.
If both teams are running the ball, then it might make very little progress.
Or it might make a lot of progress until the other team finally stops it.
In a game without touchdowns, there are no touchdown celebrations or big moments.
It’s a game that some walk away from and forget about immediately.
It’s not memorable.
Football games are boring when there aren’t any touchdowns that occur.
8. Boring Sportscasters
Sportscasters are responsible for narrating the game.
They’re most common in televised games, but you can sometimes hear them in the stadium, too.
The problem with sportscasters is that they can sometimes be boring.
All they’re doing is repeating what is happening on the field or listing player and team stats.
Since they’re also narrating the action on the screen, it can be quite boring since you’re already able to see what is happening.
They’re ideal for those who are unable to watch the game, but for those who can, sportscasters can make the game quite boring.
It doesn’t help that some of them have low-toned voices and tend to drone on and on.
It can make a listener fall asleep instead of paying attention to what’s happening on the TV.
Unless you’re a big NFL fan who cares about each player’s stats, then you probably don’t care much about the things that the sportscasters talk about.
They also have to mention various sponsors throughout the game which can be a bore to listen to.
While some sportscasters can be quite entertaining and insightful, there are others who can put you right to sleep.
Football is sometimes boring when you have boring sportscasters narrating the whole game.
9. A Losing Team
Football is, perhaps, most boring when you’re a fan of a team that just keeps losing.
If your local team has yet to win a Super Bowl or hasn’t played in the Super Bowl in years, then you might find the game boring.
That’s because you can’t really count on your team to win.
It just becomes the same old thing over and over.
Now and then, you’ll witness a great game where your team gets their heads into the game and plays well.
However, you’ll likely spend most games stuck in the stands watching your team lose yet again.
Having a team that loses constantly isn’t fun.
Not only are you the butt of everyone’s jokes, but you sometimes feel like you’re wasting time watching the game.
Instead of watching the team lose for three hours, you could do something else.
It becomes even worse when the other team is running circles around your team.
As they continue to score touchdown after touchdown and your team can’t even cross the 50-yard line, it makes the experience frustrating and boring.
Football is boring when you have a losing team that can’t get a win.
10. NFL Rules
Back in the day, football was the go-to contact sport.
It was violent.
These days, football is a lot less physical than it used to be.
Not all of that is a bad thing.
The NFL’s ruling on targeting, for example, is great since it reduces the chances of players getting a concussion during the game.
However, some rulings just suck the fun out of the game.
When the NFL ruled against excessive celebrations, for example, that alone made the game a bit boring.
Players now have strict rules regarding how they can celebrate a touchdown.
Part of the fun of watching football was to see what silly or fun moves the players made up to celebrate their touchdowns.
Another ruling is regarding taunting.
Players can now receive fines for taunting another player.
That sucks the fun out of the game, too.
There’s less drama to witness.
It makes the game too stiff and less exciting to watch.
Football is boring because of some of the NFL’s rulings.
Conclusion
While football is a popular sport, there are several reasons why it can be quite boring.
The fact that people spend most of the time watching ads rather than the game is a big one.
The NFL certainly hasn’t helped make the game more exciting with their recent rulings about taunting and celebrations either.
By addressing some of these issues, the NFL could make the game a bit more exciting to watch again.
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