Day 16 – Ball-in-play time

Topic Point: Interestingly, the quirks of soccer (running clock which counts up,stoppage time, limited substitutions, no timeouts, many restarts do not requirethe official to be involved) create a simplicity of game that ultimately makesit a very efficient combination of elapsed real time, ball-in-play time, andgame clock. A 90-minute game will take no more than 2 hours of time and therewill be actual game activity (ball-in-play) for 60 minutes, which is two-thirdsof the clock time.

Ted Lasso: Whilethere is no reference to time involved during a match aside from added stoppagetime, Ted does comment on how the sport has the “loosiest goosiest rules”(S2E6) when he learns that not all fields are the same size (to be discussedDay 24).

Soccer-related note: The former North American Soccer League (NASL) which existed in the1970s and early 1980s utilized a traditional American countdown clock. MajorLeague Soccer (MLS) did the same for its first four seasons but then switchedto the globally used standard of counting up to 90’.

Indoor soccer popularity is a small but relativelysteady in some markets. The game is soccer but with a strong influence ofbasketball. The clock counts down, the clock stops whenever play stops, a gameis four quarters, and the referee blows the whistle a lot! Despite a lot ofscoring, average attendance is only around 2,500 fans per game indicating that scoringdoes not impact soccer’s popularity.

American Sports comparison: By contrast, one could claim that traditional American sports arehighly inefficient. American football has a game clock of 60 minutes. However,total elapsed time is 3 hours, and less than 15 minutes involves the ball inplay. Basketball is only slightly better with a game clock of 48 total minutesthat require 2 hours to complete. Similarly, ice hockey (not overtly Americanthough) has a game clock of 60 minutes and requires 3 hours to complete. Themajor difference with basketball and ice hockey compared to American football isthat virtually every minute of the clock-time involves game activity (ball orpuck in-play), however it is highly inefficient. Finally, baseball does nothave a game clock but requires 3 hours or more to complete. Ball-in-play timeis approximately 15 minutes of the 3+ hours spent at a baseball game (though“live-ball” time is almost 2 hours”).[1]

Table 6 – Comparison of sport and time(game clock vs time in play vs elapsed time)

[1] “Live-ball” refers to the moment when the pitcher may throw theball or runners can advance. While the ball may not actually be in play, playmay occur (stealing bases for example; throwing out a runner at another base asopposed to waiting for the ball to be hit into play).

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After reviewing the game clock, ball-in-play time, and elapsed total time, you may have noticed the relative efficiency of a soccer match. We also looked at coaching and the amount of oversight involved in some sports but soccer has minimal. That holds true for the officiating! Take a lookat these charts.

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First notice the number of whistles within a game. Soccer has the most minutes of game clock and the least number of whistles.

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Translating the number of whistles per game into whistles per minute, you can see that in American football and basketball there is less than a 60 second interval between whistles. The officials exert a tremendous amount of control over the execution of the game, just as in most sports the coaches exert a tremendous amount of control over the pley of the game. Soccer allows a tremendous amount of player freedom and autonomy.

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