Weekly Column: What is the Captivation with Timing in Sports?

California Sports Lawyer® Founder and Managing Attorney Jeremy M. Evans column about the captivation with increasing the pace of play in professional sports across America.

You can read the full column below. (Past columns can be found, here).

As the Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA Tour) has changed it rules to speed up the game of golf, or increase the pace of play similar to the changes made in Major League Baseball (MLB) over the past few years, it raises the question of why these changes are happening. Why is the pace of play so important now? How will the changes to pace of play change sports?

Similar to last weeks’ column and podcast, the entertainment, media, and sports culture is one that encourages social media and highlight content consumption. The technology and availability of content allows consumption on social media in a highlight fashion, but it is up to the individual to moderate their consumption. While the consumption of content has encouraged binge watching and choosing highlights over watching the full-form variety, professional sports leagues have moved to make the timing changes to speed up the pace of play in games.

From a business perspective, changing the pace of play makes sense. Sports leagues need to deliver what the consumer wants to increase viewership and advertising dollars. However, there are some downsides and insights to the pace of play changes.

First is the issue of loss of tradition and authenticity. Games often change their rules and it is often based on circumstances of play and performance. However, once the pace of play is changed it has an impact on strategy, injury risk, and statistical comparison. There is clear evidence that injuries have been increasing in baseball especially among pitchers, which may be more related to pitchers being encouraged to throw harder and more spin rate versus with more efficiency and placement. However, speeding up the game does change the strategy of how a game is played. Anytime a game is sped up, injury is always a risk. Lastly, there is a concern with statistical comparison when the game is changed. Imagine for example hitting 60 homeruns in a season of 154 games versus 162 games. Seconds and inches matter in sports. Seconds and inches come with timing.

Second there are the commercial interests at play. Advertisers for example want more time on the screen, not less. If the game is shortened it means less time for viewers to view advertisements. There is also the issue of fans not seeing games for longer periods of time despite paying more. Essentially, fans are paying more now than ever before for less viewer time. The pace of play changes in baseball have clearly shortened the game time, which is good for shorter attention spans, but what about the long-term impact?

There is also evidence that the pace of play favors the underdog. The more underdogs have time, the more they have time to plan and disrupt a rhythm of the game. The opposite could also be true.

The point here is not to criticize the pace of play changes, but it will be imperative to measure the results and learn from the data as to what happens when the pace of play changes. There is also the idea of making the content more consumable through technology advancements, accessibility, on-air talent, and on-field play so timing matters less.

About Jeremy M. Evans:

Jeremy M. Evans is the Chief Entrepreneur Officer, Founder & Managing Attorney at California Sports Lawyer®, representing entertainment, media, and sports clients in contractual, intellectual property, and dealmaking matters. Evans is an award-winning attorney and industry leader based in Los Angeles and Newport Beach, California. He can be reached at Jeremy@CSLlegal.com. www.CSLlegal.com.