Game Ops Manual

The NFL’s Game Operations Manual covers virtually every facet of the game and game preparation — from where visiting teams work out the day before the game to the number of towels (600) and pounds of ice (500) that the home team must provide in the visiting team’s locker room. Here’s a sample of other requirements:

• All fields must be tested to ensure that they meet the NFL’s standards for consistency and safety. Natural fields are tested for hardness and surface stability and synthetic turf for hardness, depth and evenness.
• The manual dictates the specifications for tarps that can be used on NFL fields down to the weight and color, which can affect whether grass burns and how fast ice and snow melt.
• Each team must deliver at least 24 official Wilson NFL footballs, brushed and wiped down by the equipment manager, to the officials’ locker room 135 minutes before kickoff. The referee inspects and approves them if they meet the league’s standards.
• Game officials and league, team and TV representatives synchronize their watches at an officials’ meeting 90 minutes before game time to make sure that games start exactly on time.
• The manual dictates exact times for teams leaving the locker rooms, player introductions, the national anthem (two minutes maximum) and the coin toss.
• The coach-to-coach communications system must work for both teams or be used by neither.
• The public address system cannot be engaged after the play clock reaches 20 seconds or the center’s hand touches the ball (whichever occurs first) while when the visiting team is on offense.
• All artificial sound must stop when the play clock reaches 20 seconds or the offense reaches the line of scrimmage.
• If a home team uses any equipment to heat or cool the bench area, the visiting team must be offered the same at the home club’s expense.
• The home club must provide paramedics, ambulances with advanced life support equipment and an airway management physician certified in rapid sequence intubation.
• The league must provide two independently certified athletic trainers to monitor the broadcast feed to identify potential injuries, especially to a player’s head and neck.
• The home club must show replays on the stadium display for all touchdowns, safeties, turnovers, offensive fumble recoveries, first downs, instant replay reviews and potential receptions along the sideline or the back of the end zone.
• In stadiums with retractable roofs or walls, the home club must notify the referee or the highest-ranking league official working the game no later than 90 minutes prior to kickoff whether the roof and/or wall will be open or closed. The roof and/or wall must be in its designated position by 60 minutes prior to kickoff.