NFL Working to Reduce Commercial Breaks During Games

The NFL on Wednesday unveiled a number of changes the league was looking to implement to make the game more enjoyable for fans, including limiting commercial breaks. 

“Together with our broadcast partners, we will be working to meaningfully reduce down time and the frequency of commercial breaks in our game,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.

Goodell added: “We will also be giving our broadcast partners increased flexibility to avoid untimely breaks in the action. For example, we know how annoying it is when we come back from a commercial break, kick off, and then cut to a commercial again. I hate that too. Our goal is to eliminate it.” 

No specific time frame for the change was given. Goodell also laid out plans to make the pace of play faster, including how refs review plays.

“Next week clubs will vote on a change to centralize replay reviews,” he said. “Instead of a fixed sideline monitor, we will bring a tablet to the referee who can review the play in consultation with our officiating headquarters in New York, which has the final decision. This should improve consistency and accuracy of decisions and help speed up the process.”

There is also a plan to start the play clock following an extra point if the broadcast doesn’t cut to a commercial.

“We’re also going to standardize the starting of the clock after a runner goes out of bounds, and standardize halftime lengths in all games, so we return to the action as quickly as possible,” Goodell said in the statement. 

Here’s my note to @NFL fans about changes we are working on to improve the pace of the game and fan experience: https://t.co/agRImoaqSl

— Roger Goodell (@nflcommish) March 22, 2017

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