Concerns are rising as NFL ratings have drastically dropped this season compared to last. The league has made changes in order to increase scoring, and in turn, increase ratings, but it seems as though the opposite has occurred.

With options such as NFL RedZone, highlights through social media platforms and SportsCenter recaps, it isn’t necessary for a fan to watch an entire game. Additionally, if your team isn’t local, there’s a chance you would need to pay a fee or go out of your way to watch your team online, an inconvenience to a casual viewer.

After a long commercial break, one play could lead into another commercial break, depending on the action.

Fantasy Football forces users to focus on scores and statistics, rather than the game as a whole. This information can easily be gathered through other various mediums outside of traditional television programming.

Average game times for the NFL are well over three hours, while Americans’ attention spans are dropping drastically.

This year, the league has already managed two ties. After overtime rules were changed in 2012, there have been five ties overall. This is ridiculous compared to the 17 ties that spanned over nearly a 40-year period.

The fact of the matter is that NFL games are becoming too lengthy. Though the NFL is growing to become more popular than ever before, games are starting to become unreasonably time-consuming to a typical fan.

As our culture changes, sports will have to begin to adapt to those changes. Whether this be through changing rules to make the games under three hours or through shifting focus to other programming and possibilities, the NFL can’t continue on at the current, slow pace that is professional football.