Superbowl duration

February 4, 2010 6:17 PM

What's the average length of a superbowl game?
posted by gregoryc to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

probably around 4 hours.
posted by Dick Laurent is Dead at 6:20 PM on February 4, 2010

4-4 1/2 hours, not counting the pre or post show
posted by nadawi at 6:21 PM on February 4, 2010

Clarification, please: do you mean the average length of the broadcast (typically there's a bunch of pre- and a little bit of post-game stuff), the game itself, the actual moments of on-field action, or something else (four fifteen-minute quarters)?
posted by box at 6:30 PM on February 4, 2010

The game itself is around 3:40. Halftime is :30, twice the usual length of an NFL game. The pregame and postgame last approximately 273,000 years.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 6:35 PM on February 4, 2010 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: Looking for kickoff to end of game.

Anyone know of any data from past superbowls? Surely somebody is keeping track of this stat online somewhere . . . ?
posted by gregoryc at 7:07 PM on February 4, 2010

the wiki pages for each individual game have a length of game stated. however, looking at some of the numbers, i don't think they're including halftime show which is usually 20-40 minutes.
posted by nadawi at 7:18 PM on February 4, 2010

Yeah, the superbowl is the same as any other playoff football game--approximately four hours. We can't give you an exact estimate, particularly as overtime can go on essentially infinitely in post-playoff games, until someone wins. The game in 1971, for example, had two overtimes--one of 15 minutes and one of about 7.

(Thank you, football obsessed husband!)
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 5:37 AM on February 5, 2010

Whoops, the mister says that the 1971 game was a Christmas Day playoff game, not a stuporbowl, but what I said is still theoretically true--if the game goes into overtime (hasn't happened yet with a superbowl, but it could), there's no telling how long it could go.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 5:40 AM on February 5, 2010