Getty The Super Bowl is longer than the average NFL game.
Super Bowl 52 dominates the airwaves on Sunday night, with kickoff scheduled for 6:25 p.m. Eastern.
With all the pageantry of the coin toss and anthem, expect a slight delay to the start of the game. Halftime is extended at the Super Bowl, so the Super Bowl broadcast is expected to run until approximately 11 p.m. Eastern.
The average length of a Super Bowl this decade is three hours and 44 minutes.
The start of the Super Bowl is unlike any other game. In addition to Pink singing the national anthem, Leslie Odom Jr. will perform America The Beautiful. The Super Bowl has also recently employed a special guest coin flipper. This year, Medal of Honor recipient Woody Williams will toss the coin.
Because of the musical guest, halftime is extended at the Super Bowl. In a normal NFL game, halftime lasts for 12 minutes. But in the Super Bowl, where the stage has to be assembled and dismantled, halftime lasts for 30 minutes.
There was an extended delay in 2013, when a power outage delayed Super Bowl 42 by 34 minutes. It was later revealed that an “abnormality” in the stadium’s power system triggered an automatic shutdown.
Of course, the Super Bowl also ends differently than any other game. After the confetti starts to fall, another stage is assembled to award the Lombardi Trophy. The team owner will likely make a terrible speech, and the broadcast will end after awarding Most Valuable Player honors.
Of course, the length of the game is entirely dependent on the scoring output. A high scoring game has more breaks, leading to a longer game. Four of the last five Super Bowls have a combined score of over 50 points.
After the episode, NBC will air a pivotal episode of the hit show ‘This is Us.’