Roger Goodell reveals the changes the NFL will make to improve the pace of the game

It might involve a more centralized replay system and a play clock after extra points

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You aren’t the only one who hates the touchdown-commercials-kickoff-commercials sequence in football. Apparently, so does NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

On Wednesday, Goodell published a letter that outlined the changes the NFL hopes to make to improve the pace of the game. Goodell’s goal: To give the fans “a competitive game with fewer interruptions and distractions from the action.” 

Let’s take a look at how the NFL wants to accomplish that. First, the NFL might centralize instant replay.

From Goodell’s letter:

For example, next week clubs will vote on a change to centralize replay reviews. Instead of a fixed sideline monitor, we will bring a tablet to the referee who can review the play in consultation with our officiating headquarters in New York, which has the final decision. This should improve consistency and accuracy of decisions and help speed up the process.

Second, the NFL is going to have a play clock that starts after an extra point. It might even add a play clock between the touchdown and extra point. Goodell explains:

Regarding game timing, we’re going to institute a play clock following the extra point when television does not take a break, and we’re considering instituting a play clock after a touchdown. We’re also going to standardize the starting of the clock after a runner goes out-of-bounds, and standardize halftime lengths in all games, so we return to the action as quickly as possible. Those are just a few of the elements we are working on to improve the pace of our game. 

Together with our broadcast partners, we will be working to meaningfully reduce down time and the frequency of commercial breaks in our game. We will also be giving our broadcast partners increased flexibility to avoid untimely breaks in the action. For example, we know how annoying it is when we come back from a commercial break, kick off, and then cut to a commercial again. I hate that too. Our goal is to eliminate it. 

It’s not often proposed changes in the NFL are met with universal approval (see: the reported proposed rule to ban field goal and extra point leaps), but these are common sense changes. I just don’t see why any fan would object to what Goodell wrote in his letter. 

Of course, the NFL still has plenty of other complex issues to fix -- most of them related to player safety. Those issues aren’t going away and there’s no clear solution. But let’s give credit where credit is due: If the changes that Goodell outlined above end up working by speeding up the pace of the game and improving the viewing experience then this will be a huge win for everyone involved. 

To read Goodell’s entire letter, click here.