How long does the Super Bowl last?

Buccaneers and Chiefs are set for a meeting in Super Bowl 55
Buccaneers and Chiefs are set for a meeting in Super Bowl 55

On February 7, 2021, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs will meet for the biggest prize in the NFL. Super Bowl 55 will be a historic event with everything going on. There will be the lowest attendance in Super Bowl history due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the first time in Super Bowl history, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be playing the Super Bowl in their own stadium. With the Kansas City Chiefs being the home team during Super Bowl 54, the Buccaneers will have a true home game against the Chiefs because it's the NFC's turn to be the Super Bowl's home team.

We have seen all season long that the NFL games seem to be moving along quickly. There have been fewer commercials and less time at halftime. With the Super Bowl being known for the Half-time Show and the commercials, will both of those be cut short?

With the COVID-19 pandemic in mind, let's take a look at how long the NFL Super Bowl will be in 2021.


Super Bowl 55: Kansas City Chiefs vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

When looking at the length of an NFL Super Bowl game it comes out to be three-and-a-half to four hours long between the pre-game activities, national anthem, starting lineup presentations, halftime show, and commercials. The majority of the time is wrapped around the activities outside of the game.

Out of the three-and-a-half to four hours that the Super Bowl is scheduled for, the game itself only lasts one hour.

Each NFL quarter is 15 minutes long, and there are four quarters in the game. So the activities that come along with the big game take up two-and-a-half to three hours of the time it is on television.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, we could see the NFL Super Bowl be cut down in time. This is because the NFL wants to keep the risk of COVID-19 being spread as much as possible. It is one reason why we have seen the games go so quickly throughout the playoffs.

This will come as a disappointment for the NFL fans that tune into the game just to watch the commercials and halftime show. If the NFL continues the schedule that they have done throughout the playoffs then commercials will be limited.

The biggest halftime show in professional sports will also be limited. Unfortunately, we will not know until the game comes on if the outside game activities will be limited or not.

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