NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the NFL is going to try to reduce the frequency of commercial breaks so the action isn’t stopped so often. On Wednesday, Goodell published a letter to fans explaining how those changes would take place.
The league intends to make use of a play clock after the extra point to get back to the action faster. Officials are also considering the application of a play clock after touchdowns as well. Standardizing the length of halftimes during all games to reduce downtime is another idea being talked about.
“We know how annoying it is when we come back from a commercial break, kick off, and then cut to a commercial again,” he said. “All of these changes are meant to give you more of what you want: a competitive game with fewer interruptions and distractions from the action.”
The NFL is also considering changing how replays work to make them faster.
The NFL and its partner TV networks currently generate copious amounts of revenue from ad sales (Super Bowl LI ads for example cost roughly $5 million apiece, as of today,), so the reduction is unlikely to happen anytime in the near future.
