"We wrote about ball-in-play time a few seasons ago, revealing that fans were not seeing as much football as in previous years. We're not saying our data nosiness led to referees adding more stoppage time, but there was a notable rise in ball-in-play time over the next two campaigns. It went up from 54 minutes and 49 seconds in 2022-23 to 58 minutes and 11 seconds in 2023-24."
"There are 45 minutes and 35 seconds of delays/pauses per game this season or roughly one episode of Countdown. We could be struggling to solve a conundrum rather than watching someone saunter over slowly to take a corner. For clarity, a delay is the time between the ball going out and play resuming for corners, free-kicks, throw-ins, goal-kicks, kick-offs, penalties and drop balls."
Average ball-in-play time has fallen to 55 minutes per game this season, down from 56 minutes 59 seconds last season and well below the 58 minutes 11 seconds recorded in 2023-24. Stoppage time has crept up, with games lasting 100 minutes and 35 seconds on average this season, 51 seconds longer than last season, while actual ball-in-play time is almost two minutes fewer. Fans are spending two minutes and 50 seconds longer waiting for restarts. There are 45 minutes and 35 seconds of delays and pauses per game this season. A delay is the time between the ball going out and play resuming for corners, free-kicks, throw-ins, goal-kicks, kick-offs, penalties and drop balls.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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