What's the average Super Bowl duration compared to a regular NFL game?
By Mark Powell
There are two types of Super Bowls. The first, and best by a wide margin, are close matchups featuring two great teams fighting for professional football's ultimate prize. The second is a clunker – think Super Bowl LII, in which the New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams 13-3. The truth is we must suffer through the terrible matchups to acknowledge just how great the all-time classics really are.
Regardless of the result, though, most Super Bowls are long. Whether the time flies by or crawls often depends on the company you keep. The NFL makes its final game of the season a spectacle, filled with the best commercials money can buy and a halftime show featuring a popular artist at the time. You can't ask for much more than that.
What's the average Super Bowl duration?
The Super Bowl typically starts around 6:30pm ET, and lasts (on average) 3.5 hours. Over the last 20 years, only four Super Bowls have finished in under 3.5 hours. Only three Super Bowls have lasted over four hours, though, which would be a positive development if Super Bowl LVIII hadn't taken four hours and six minutes just last season. Here's the complete list.
Super Bowl | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|
XXXVIII | Feb. 1, 2004 | 4:05 |
XXXIX | Feb. 6, 2005 | 3:38 |
XL | Feb. 5, 2006 | 3:36 |
XLI | Feb. 4, 2007 | 3:31 |
XLII | Feb. 3, 2008 | 3:35 |
XLIII | Feb. 1, 2009 | 3:38 |
XLIV | Feb. 7, 2010 | 3:14 |
XLV | Feb. 6, 2011 | 3:32 |
XLVI | Feb. 5, 2012 | 3:23 |
XLVII | Feb. 3, 2013 | 4:14 |
XLVIII | Feb. 2, 2014 | 3:23 |
XLIX | Feb. 1, 2015 | 3:36 |
L | Feb. 7, 2016 | 3:43 |
LI | Feb. 5, 2017 | 3:47 |
LII | Feb. 4, 2018 | 3:46 |
LIII | Feb. 3, 2019 | 3:32 |
LIV | Feb. 2, 2020 | 3:29 |
LV | Feb. 7, 2021 | 3:35 |
LVI | Feb. 13, 2022 | 3:26 |
LVII | Feb. 12, 2023 | 3:31 |
LVIII | Feb. 11, 2024 | 4:06 |
The games were, seemingly, trending in the right direction until just last season. It doesn't help that any game the Chiefs play in may include fireworks, and could very well include an overtime session. The increased ad time as well as halftime show will test your patience.
How does the Super Bowl duration compare to a regular season game?
Who would think that four 15-minute quarters would take so long? However, when one factors in commercial breaks, instant replays, incompletions and more, it's easy to see why an average football game would last – checks watch – three hours and 18 minutes. If I've learned anything in the process of writing this story, it's that football games last a long time no matter what is on the line. The Super Bowl is a bit longer, sure, but not by as much as you might think!
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