As if you needed evidence that the NFL is truly a TV game, you have more proof here. Because of commercials, replays and other delays, most of the “action” is comprised of players standing around. Vox Media broke down the Cincinnati at New England game in October and found that most of the game had players standing around either in the huddle or just waiting at 35.5% with commercials next at 24.5% and replays at 10.7%.
Actual gameplay took just 8.3% of the time. So we watch the NFL for just 8.3% of actual play. The rest we’re bombarded with commercials, promos and watching players stand. Maybe we all need to get outside more.
[Vox]