For Whom the Whistle Blows
The recent tremendous financial success of the sports industry lies within the over use of timeouts and various stoppages of play.
The sharp piercing sound of a whistle signifies a stoppage of play, and an opportunity for coaches to strategize, organize, and teach. For athletes who have tirelessly given their all on the court, field, or rink, this stoppage of play serves as a relieving and deserved breather. Meanwhile, for those who watch, whether it is from the stands or the comfort of their own home, the abrupt interruption of athletic nirvana serves as a sustained and inevitable annoyance.
The timeout is a common feature of almost every sport, and it has been added to the rule books of Hockey, Tennis, Basketball, Football, and Volleyball. Both professional and collegiate coaches hardly waste timeouts, using every last opportunity to stop play, convene with their team, and earn a leg up on their opponent. The strategic placement of timeouts, often used in basketball to stop momentum or in football to stop the clock, is a common measure used to assess the quality of coaches.
Poor clock management and the excessive or mild usage of timeouts can be the difference between a championship team and a perennial loser. The importance of stopping the clock grows increasingly more important late in games, and the misuse of timeouts is often the difference between escaping a close game with a win or leaving with a stinging loss.
The bitter taste a tough loss leaves in your mouth is one I’m sure Chris Webber can relate to. The former University of Michigan Forward lost a crucial NCAA tournament game for his alma mater by calling a timeout his team didn’t have. Webber’s timeout in the final seconds of the 1993 National Championship Game against the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, seemed to be a rushed attempt by the big man to keep possession of the ball after dribbling himself into a trap. With his team down two in the final seconds, Webber made a valiant attempt to prolong the Wolverines’ season and grant Head Coach Bill Snyder an opportunity to draw up the game winning play.
Unfortunately for Webber and Michigan fans, this seemingly productive attempt to win the game proved to be a blunder that has blemished Chris Webber’s otherwise illustrious collegiate career. Despite his team finishing the 1993 season as runner up to the North Carolina Tar Heels, after a few long months Webber became the first overall pick in the NBA draft. Chris Webber’s prompt move from college to the pros may have served as a relief to the star forward, as NBA rules provide teams with more timeouts than college rules.
In the National Basketball Association each team is granted eight total timeouts, six “full” one minute timeouts and one twenty second timeout per half. Coaches and players can call a timeout when their team has the ball or during any stoppage of play. Often timeouts are used by coaches and players to stop the momentum of their opponent and sway the imminent ebb and flow of the game in their favor. Although team timeouts account for a maximum of sixteen total stoppages in play, there are additional media timeouts that also stop play and happen after the first dead ball, occurring at precise three minute intervals during each quarter. Media timeouts also serve as a predetermined superfluous stoppage of play that allows coaches to “talk it over” with their teams.
Similarly, the National Football League has comprehensively outlined league rules regarding timeouts and the stoppage of play. Each team is given three timeouts per half and is allowed to use them at any point between plays. The NFL also provides a “Two-Minute Warning”, which is a mandatory stoppage in play that occurs at the two-minute mark of both the second and fourth quarter. In addition to the team timeouts, “Two Minute Warning”, Halftime, and various breaks between quarters, the NFL requires a minimum of twenty commercial breaks that can be implemented after any stoppage of play.
NCAA rules regarding timeouts and stoppage of play show striking resemblance to their professional counterparts, retaining time mandated for commercial breaks outside team-called timeouts. NCAA Basketball rules, much like the NBA, enforce mandatory media timeouts at the first dead ball after finite four minute intervals in each half. While mandating media timeouts for televised games, the NCAA has also granted each team with four seventy-five second media timeouts and two thirty second timeouts. College Basketball games are comprised of two twenty minute halves and NBA games involve four twelve minute quarters, but the two have almost the same number of breaks in the action.
There are many parallels between the NFL rules regarding timeouts and the stoppage of play and NCAA Football rules. College Football rules allow for three, one-minute timeouts in televised games and thirty seconds team timeouts in non-televised games per half. In addition to the standard breaks between quarters and mandatory twenty commercial breaks in televised games, the rules themselves lack any glaring difference, besides the lack of a “Two-Minute Warning” in the college game. The rules regarding the stoppage of play during a football game are extremely similar regardless of the league or its audience, and an increasing amount of breaks in the action has truly become a hallmark of the American pastime.
The National Hockey League proves to be unique compared to other American sports leagues, as the NHL only allows for one team timeout per game for each team. In an attempt to limit the number of stoppages in a briskly paced sport, the NHL has failed to gain traction on network television because the opportunity for advertising revenue simply isn’t there. In turn the overall health of the sport is contingent on an endemic Canadian market and revenue from an extremely loyal audience. Apparently, the devoted Hockey fan base in the great white north wasn’t enough to sustain the NHL, as the league was forced to conform to the role American consumerism plays in professional sports and add three media timeouts per period.
Nowadays, sports are plagued by numerous unforeseen stoppages in play that ruin the rhythm of the games in which they abruptly interrupt. To the casual sports fan it may seem that an increase of team timeouts and media timeouts can serve as an asset to their favorite teams, who are provided with additional time to talk it over and improve their performance. The number of stoppages is excessive; teams simply don’t need the abundant amount of stoppages anymore. The increasing amount of technology and the evolution of the increasingly intelligent professional athlete has created newly found communication techniques between coaches on the sidelines to athletes on the court, field, or rink.
For over two decades football coaches have been using radio headsets to communicate with the quarterback or middle linebacker on the field. Meanwhile basketball coaches have made significant strides in game planning, and often use players substituting into the game to deliver important messages to players already on the floor. Yet the implementation of superfluous team and media timeouts may put a halt to the advancement of communication between coach and player. A limited amount of timeouts would encourage coaches to use them more sparingly for strictly strategic purposes, making coaching much more difficult. Fortunately for NBA, NFL, NHL, and NCAA coaches the number of timeouts and stoppages continue to increase.
The implementation of excessive game stoppages is mandated by the NBA, NHL, NFL, and NCAA in order to lengthen games and create more time to reap the benefits of lofty advertising revenue. Once upon a time, stadium attendance and merchandising were the largest revenue streams for a professional and collegiate sports franchise, but soon that will not be true. The abounding number of timeouts in professional and collegiate sports has boosted advertising revenue and earnings from the sale of media rights to new heights. The newly found revenue stream has propelled the sports industry from 60.5 billion dollars in 2014 to a projected 73.5 billion dollars in 2019.
The new long term television contracts that have come as a result of the stoppages in play have also benefited the crumbling network television industry. Today sports advertising revenue accounts for one third of the total revenue allocated by the network television industry. The lofty advertising revenue collected from sports broadcasting by networks like CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX justifies the increase in coverage of professional and collegiate sports.
Network television and the sports industry have replenished a once decaying symbiotic relationship. The revival of strong ties between network television and the sports industry can be attributed to the augmented use of game stoppages. The effective use of timeouts, game stoppages, and other breaks in the action for advertising has become the hallmark of American sports.
Sports enthusiasts today find themselves camped in front of the television or seated in the frigid bleachers for hours on end, consuming mostly lucrative advertisements brought to them by Chevrolet, Budweiser, and Geico rather than the sports fans pay to watch. The prolongation and over saturation of advertising in professional and collegiate sports is indicative of the gluttony the American consumer exhibits. The casual sports fan dismisses the over saturation of timeouts as an inevitable result of the innovation within the coaching industry, but in truth the excessive amount of breaks in the action is simply a mass marketing ploy that used to increase revenue.
Many sports fans continue to be deceived as to the usage of timeouts, attributing to the facade that the recent success of the sports industry lies within the increase in competition between franchises, coaches and athletes. Meanwhile few recognize that the excessive use of breaks in the action is the real reason for tremendous financial success. Within this common misconception lies the information needed to recognize for whom the whistle blows.
References:
Crupi., Anthony. “Sports Now Accounts for 37% of Broadcast TV Ad Spending.” Advertising Age Media RSS. Ad Age, 10 Sept. 2015. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
Heitner, Darren. “Sports Industry To Reach $73.5 Billion By 2019.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 28 Mar. 2016. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
“NFL Rules Digest: Timing.” NFL Rules Digest: Timing. NFL, 2016. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
“NHL / IIHF Rules Comparison.” Official Site of the National Hockey League. NHL, 2010. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
Williams, Laura . “Time Out Rules in Basketball.” Live Well — Jillian Michaels. Jillian Michaels , n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
