I have tried watching baseball but do struggle. Which is odd because I enjoy the pace of a cricket match.
Having been to Wembley for the NFL for the past three years I find the TV interuptions go pretty much unnoticed. There's a smoothness to it that is not seen on TV in the UK because it goes to the studio and you get three minutes of talking heads. Three minutes is fairly extreme, I think in NFL they have got a fine art of chucking in a single advert during each game break (and they are less often than most non-fans realise). For the longer breaks - between quarters and two minute warnings etc they send a band or a troop of cheerleaders on to entertain. It's a good day out.
An average professional (American) football game lasts 3 hours and 12 minutes, but if you tally up the time when the ball is actually in play, the action amounts to a mere 11 minutes.
The average NFL game includes 20 commercial breaks containing more than 100 ads. The Journal’s analysis found that commercials took up about an hour, or one-third, of the game.
- Wall Street Journal.
I'd say that reflects my experience of watching it in the US. Lots of standing around by players, lots of time spent changing teams (Offensive to defensive and vice-versa, plus Kicking teams). Penalty flags and referrals to TV umpires on almost every single play.
I watched a couple of live games and one on TV. The best way to watch it is via a Highlights show on TV, that cuts out everything but the 11 minutes of interest.
It's a game where the role of 75% of the massive players is to lunge forward 6 feet and fall on an equally massive person lunging the other way. I mean that's all they do. They make Rugby's Brian Moore look like a Ballet Dancer by comparison.
Netflix has, very quickly, changed American attitudes to the necessity of commercials during programs and NFL viewing is in serious decline..possibly because of this.
Include in that rather limited statistical analysis. Half an hour for half time (1+ hour for superbowl half time show), ten minutes for each change of quarter and I tend to agree. My point was the live show is better than the TV, when you are there it seems to flow much better because it's not broken by TV adverts.
And 11 minutes of action is impossible. The clock is only running when there is action going on and that has to be 60 minutes. It is stopped during TV referals and penalty decisions - during which US TV goes to an ad break. So although at points it runs whilst players are in the huddle it's definitely not 49 minutes of players being in the huddle - which is also all part of the tactics by the way.
I will however, suggest you watch a game before judging so much. The subtle nuances of what's going on in the middle of the pack far outweigh the brute strength of a rugby maul (I like Rugby too by the way). the tactical switching of position, the skill required to catch a ball in bounds whilst momentum and a cornerback are trying to prevent you getting your feet down. All rolled into a show.
I'd rather sit through 3.5 hours of an NFL game than 90 minutes (plus half time) of a soccer match but we are all different.