NCAA Football Rule Changes

Recent changes in Division I football rules fired up a lot of controversy among spectators, players, officials and the media. The main objective of the rule changes was to shorten the duration of games. College football games were lasting up to four hours, and officials believed this to be excessive. While I understand time is valuable, the new rules have taken some of the excitement out of the game. The likelihood of a last-minute comeback significantly decreases if the clock continues to run. Click here to learn more about the change in rules.

The popularity and publicity of college football have increased to a level so high that many college football players are considered celebrities. Breaking records always draws media attention, but less records will likely be broken if the rule changes remain in effect for future seasons. Shorter games result in fewer plays. This makes it much harder to break records that were set in games with more plays. From a public relations perspective, this is probably not a good idea. The games were shortened by an average of only 15 minutes. I’m not sure it’s worth changing rules to shave 15 minutes off of a game. The most-watched football game each year is the Super Bowl. Coincidentally, this is also the longest football game each year. The length of this game never seems to prevent viewers from watching the game. The new rules were simply an experiment, and from a public relations perspective, it would be wise to change the rules back.

In all but two Division I conferences, the Big East and the Southeastern Conference, the average yardage, number of plays and points decreased. The decrease in points is very important to the media. Fans generally would rather watch a game with a higher score, such as 48-35, than a low score like 3-0. The excitement generated over a team scoring points draws fans to games. While defense is essential to a good football team, it is typically the scoring offense that creates the most excitement for a team. Most fans would likely watch a game for an extra 15 minutes to see more action on the field. From the perspective of public relations, it would be a wise decision to discontinue this experiment with the play clock.