American Football

An anecdotal analaysis of college football. 

In this example there were five minutes of game time remaining in a televised college football game. A timer was set for elapsed time and a separate timer was used to measure playing time. 

September 27, 2025

Ohio State 24

Washington 6

final score 

Results

Game time: 4th quarter 00:05:00 remaining

Ohio State with possession of the ball and a 24-6 point advantage 

Elapsed time: 00:15:20

Playing time: 00:01:10

• percentage of playing time to game time 23%

• percentage of playing time to elapsed time 8%

Summary 

In this example, it took 5 minutes of game time for 1 minute 10 seconds of playing time. It took 15 minutes 20 seconds of elapsed time for 1 minute 10 seconds of playing time. 

Conclusion

American football has approximately one minute of live action for every 5 minutes of game time or one minute of live action for every 15 minutes of elapsed time. 

Notes

See this post for a different and higher intensity of live action. It's an example of 1:04:46 nonstop action in artistic form.