Are NFL games just too slow? That’s one question being asked by executives as the rating continue to falter.
NFL Media executive VP and NFL Network president and CEO Brian Rolapp was recently asked if the pace of games needed to increase to draw people back in, and he said:
“Could [games] be shorter? Could they be better? Are replays too long? We are constantly looking at those things to make the pace of the games more interesting.”
Another change they are mulling is the way commercials are used. They are obviously a huge source of funding, but he did acknowledge that having 70 commercials with each game may push viewers away. He said:
“In a world where Netflix has no commercials and consumers are used to 15 seconds of of pre-roll, is there a better way to do commercials with our broadcast partners?”
Furthermore, he noted that the rules of the game itself could be altered, saying:
“If we don’t keep an open mind about preserving some flexibility, any measure of success you have can go away pretty quickly. We look constantly at improving the rules of the game, the safety of the game and the quality of the game – even if that means changing things that some people think are sacred cows.”
Right now, nothing is set in stone. But the NFL is clearly aware that people may not be as willing to simply accept the game in 2016 as they were 10 or 20 years ago. Other sports have made similar changes – the alteration of the net size in the NHL, for example – to try to boost interest.
