Could we ever see football go to 4 quarters – Part 3
There are however some groups of people who would probably like football going to 4 quarters. Some fans would probably appreciate the switch. Football is one of those games where if you are away from the game for 15 seconds you can miss a goal. This is true in other sports however it only occurs vary rarely, intercept tries and tries off charge downs in rugby are an example of this. So, fans who want to get up and go get food, or go to the bathroom for example, risk missing out on the action. 4 quarters would benefit them because instead of 20 minutes in, needing to go to the bathroom and having to hold it until half time they could go and have a break at the 25-minute mark. This is true for fans who see the game live at the stadium or ones at home watching on the TV.
TV networks would also benefit immensely from this as it provides an opportunity to display more advertisements in the quarter breaks. TV advertising is extremely effective and is also extremely expensive. More available advertisements equal more money for the broadcaster so I would assume that they would also perhaps be in favor of the switch.
Continuing from this those companies that want to advertise on the TV during the game would also benefit from the game going to 4 quarters. More available advertisement slots might drop the price, meaning that companies who couldn’t afford it before might be able to. This is a benefit in itself but would also (hopefully) have a positive impact on that business’s performance provided their product or service was good enough to back up the ad. So, I don’t think everyone would be against it but I still do not think that it would be a positive change in the game.