What Time Will The Super Bowl End? A Rough Guide To The Length Of The Game

The Super Bowl is finally here. NFL fans will get to see how the 2018 season comes to an end, while non-NFL fans have excuses to indulge in food and drink while enjoying the pageantry of the big game.

Unfortunately for those who are not especially interested in the contest between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams, it will probably be a long one. Data collected by The Verge in 2017 found that the average length of a Super Bowl in this decade has been three hours and 44 minutes.

That means Super Bowl LIII will likely end sometime between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m. ET. The game starts at 6:30 p.m. ET on CBS.

Of course, what happens in the game could greatly affect the length of the game. For example, the halftime show could be longer or shorter than usual. The Super Bowl at the conclusion of the 2016 season ended up being longer than the average game because it was the first time the NFL’s annual title game went into overtime.

The longest Super Bowl tracked by The Verge’s data was the one at the end of the 2012 season. That game, played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, was more than four hours long because of a lengthy power outage in the third quarter. The game was delayed in a dark stadium for more than half an hour.

Even so, it is very unlikely that Super Bowl LIII keeps anyone up too late.