Overtimes
 

I'm not sure on all of these so correct me if I'm wrong.

MLB - An extra inning is played until 1 team is ahead of the other.

NBA - A 5 minute overtime period is played beginning with a jumpball. No additional personal fouls are allotted. Teams get 2 60-second timeouts and 1 20-second timeout. Overtimes continue until someone wins. 4 team fouls result in free throws.

NFL - Regular Season: 15 minute period. Coinflip leads to one team getting the ball. Sudden Death, first team that scores wins. If the period ends without anyone scoring, a tie is given to both teams.
Playoffs: Same as regular system but they game is continued until someone scores.

College Football - One team starts with the rock at a fixed point and gets 1 possession to score. The other team repeats and tries to match or beat that. A tie leads to another overtime. In the 3rd overtime and after, teams must attempt a 2-point conversion after scoring a touchdown.

NHL - Regular Season: A 5 minute sudden death overtime is played 5v5. If tied at the end of this period, a shootout begins with 3 players on each side taking a penalty shot and continues until 1 side is ahead in a round.
Playoffs: 20 minute periods are played at full strength(6v6) until someone wins on the first goal made.

What makes a good overtime? Which of these systems get it right? What recommendations do you have for fixes? Are changes between regular season and playoffs necessary or worthwhile?

Re: Overtimes
 

Hockey is 4vs4 unless you include the goalie.

Re: Overtimes
 

Beat: I played in a basketball league once in which the first team to score in the OT won the game...seriously worst idea ever.

Brag: I got fouled on a 3 pointer in OT once, and being a 90+% FT shooter, I decided to shoot the first one left handed...and made it to win the game.

102,450 and counting

Re: Overtimes
 

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Hockey is 4vs4 unless you include the goalie.

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I do. But yeah, that's what I meant. That's why I included it.

Re: Overtimes
 

I usually think of the NHL overtime as 4x4 because I only think about the position-skaters on the ice and do not include the goalies. Thought most hockey fans looked at it that way.

Re: Overtimes
 

I think overtimes should both end reasonably quickly, and be fundamentally the same game that is played during regulation. Basketball overtimes are the best. Penalty shootouts and college football OT are really dumb because they're a completely different game; it'd be like deciding a baseball game with a home run derby or a basketball game with a game of horse.

I like the NFL overtime rules but maybe it'd be fairer if the kicking team got to kickoff from the 40 instead of the 30.

Re: Overtimes
 

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I usually think of the NHL overtime as 4x4 because I only think about the position-skaters on the ice and do not include the goalies. Thought most hockey fans looked at it that way.

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Yeah, whenever a guy gets out of the box you say "Back to 5 on 5" and being 2 men down is 5v3, so I always think of overtime as 4v4. I get what OP is saying, technically its 5v5 but I think most hockey fans think of it as 4v4.

Re: Overtimes
 

I'd vote that MLB, NBA and NCAAFB are the best overtime structures, and NFL and NHL are the worst.

Re: Overtimes
 

College football needs to change ASAP. It's by far the worst of all the overtimes. It barely resembles football and leads to disgusting stats. Either move the ball back to the 40 or midfield, or adopt the far superior NFL model.

Re: Overtimes
 

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College football needs to change ASAP. It's by far the worst of all the overtimes. It barely resembles football and leads to disgusting stats. Either move the ball back to the 40 or midfield, or adopt the far superior NFL model.

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Wow, its weird that I completely, 100% disagree with this. I love college football's overtime. Baseball is probably my favorite but its really close with NCAAFB.