Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw. In most sports, this extra period is only played if the game is required to have a clear winner, as in single-elimination tournaments where only one team or player per match can advance to the next round. In other sports, particular those prominently played in North America where ties are generally disfavored, some form of overtime is employed for all games.
The rules of overtime or extra time vary between sports and even different competitions. Some may employ "sudden death", where the first player or team who scores immediately wins the game. In others, play continues until a specified time has elapsed, and only then is the winner declared. If the contest remains tied after the extra session, depending on the rules, the match may immediately end as a draw, additional periods may be played, or a different tiebreaking procedure such as a penalty shootout may be used instead.
The term "overtime" is primarily used in North America, whereas "extra time" is used in other continents.
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In professional football knock-out competitions, teams play an additional 30 minutes extra time where the deciding leg or replay of a tie has not produced a winner by the end of regulation or full time. Extra time is governed by the rules of the tournament, rather than the laws of the game. It follows a short break where players remain on or around the field of play and comprises two 15-minute periods, with teams changing ends in between. In a one-off tie or deciding replay, level scores nearly always go to extra time. Over two-legs, teams only play extra time in the second leg where the aggregate score – then normally followed by an away goals rule – has not produced a winner first. The score in games or ties resorting to extra time are often recorded with the abbreviation a.e.t. (after extra time), usually accompanying the earlier score after regulation time.
Not all knock-out competitions always employ extra time. For example, ties in the English FA Cup used to be decided by as many replays until one produces a winner, although replays are now limited to just the one. Equally, CONMEBOL has historically never used extra time in any of the competitions it directly organises, such as the Copa Libertadores (today, it uses extra time only in the final match of a competition).
Ties that are still without a winner after extra time are usually decided by kicks from the penalty spot, commonly called a penalty shootout. In the late-1990s and early-2000s, many international matches tried to reduce this by employing the golden goal (also called "sudden death") or silver goal rules (the game ending if a team has the lead after the first 15-minute period of extra time), but competitions have not retained these.
The NFL introduced overtime for any divisional tiebreak games beginning in 1940, and for championship games beginning in 1946. The first postseason game to be played under these rules was the 1958 championship match between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants (the so-called "Greatest Game Ever Played"). In 1974, the NFL adopted sudden death overtime for regular season games. If the score is tied after regulation time has concluded, an additional 15-minute period is played. The captains meet with the officials for a coin toss, and then one side kicks off to the other, as at the start of a game. The first team to score during the extra period wins the game. In the regular season, if the overtime period is completed without either side scoring, the game ends in a tie. Because there cannot be a tie in the playoffs, the teams switch ends of the field and start additional 15-minute overtime periods until one side scores. The longest NFL game played to date is 82 minutes, 40 seconds (and the Chiefs' last-ever game at Municipal Stadium), Miami kicker Garo Yepremian kicked the winning 37-yard field goal after 7:40 of double-overtime in the 1971–72 NFL playoffs. The longest in all of modern professional football is a 1984 United States Football League playoff game, also using the sudden death rule, in which the Los Angeles Express defeated the Michigan Panthers 27–21 in triple overtime.
As a consequence of the 1974 rule changes, the number of tie games dropped dramatically. Only 17 NFL games have ended in a tie since then, and just four since 1990. The most recent was in 2008 when the Philadelphia Eagles tied with the Cincinnati Bengals 13-13.
Scoreless ties were common in the early years of the NFL, but none have happened since 1943.
In March 2010, the NFL amended its rules for postseason overtime after a vote by the team owners. If the team that wins the coin toss scores a touchdown on their first possession, they are declared the winner. If they score a field goal on their first possession, however, the opposing team is given possession of the ball and an opportunity to score; if the score is tied again after that possession, sudden death rules apply and the next team to score by any method is declared the winner, and the number of additional 15 minute periods will not matter. If neither team scores there will be another overtime period to be played, and that procedure is repeated until a winner is declared.[1] The rule change currently only applies to postseason games; regular season games will continue to use the existing sudden death rules.[1]
The Arena Football League and NFL Europa used a variant in which each team is guaranteed one possession. Whoever is leading after one possession wins the game; if the teams remain tied after one possession, the game goes to sudden death. This procedure was used by the United Football League in its inaugural 2009 season.[2]
The short-lived World Football League, for its inaugural 1974 season (the same year the NFL established sudden death in the regular season), used extra time (one full fifteen-minute quarter, divided into two halves).
The New York Pro Football League, a 1910s-era league that eventually had several of its teams join the NFL, used the replay to settle ties in its playoff tournament. The replay was used in the 1919 tournament to decide the championship between the Buffalo Prospects and the Rochester Jeffersons had played to a tie on Thanksgiving; Buffalo won the replay 20–0 to win the championship.
In college (beginning with the 1996 season) and high school football, as well as the Canadian Football League, an overtime procedure is used to determine the winner. This method is sometimes referred to as a "Kansas Playoff," or "Kansas Plan" because of its origins for high school football in that state. A brief summary of the rules:
On two occasions, just two plays were required to determine an overtime winner in an NCAA football game. These occurred on September 26, 2002, when Louisville defeated Florida State 26–20, and September 27, 2003 when Georgia Tech defeated Vanderbilt 24–17.
It is possible for a college game to end after a single play in overtime if the team on defense secures a turnover and returns it for a touchdown. (One example of a defensive touchdown ending the game occurred on September 9, 2005 when Ohio defeated Pittsburgh 16–10 on an 85 yard interception return by Dion Byrum; this occurred on the third play of overtime.) Furthermore, it is possible (but not likely) that the defense may get a safety on the first possession in overtime, thus ending the game after only one overtime play. Because this would require the offense to go backward 75 yards, this is extremely improbable and has never happened in FBS.
As of 2011, the Missouri Tigers have competed in the most overtime college football games, totalling 14.[3]
The short-lived XFL used a modified Kansas Playoff, where the series would start on the 20-yard line and have four downs to score. However, if the first team to play overtime scored a touchdown in less than four downs, the second team would have to score in just as many plays (for instance, if the first team scored a touchdown on three downs, the second team would only have three downs to score a touchdown). Neither team could kick a field goal until the fourth down. Rather than a coin toss, the winner of the opening scramble at the beginning of the game also got to choose to go first or second in overtime.
In basketball, if the score is tied at the end of regulation play, the teams play a five-minute overtime period. In levels below collegiate/Olympic play, an overtime period is half the length of a standard quarter, i.e., four minutes for high school varsity. FIBA 33, a formalized version of the halfcourt three-on-three game, uses two-minute overtime periods. The alternating possession rule is used to start all overtime periods under international rules[4] while a jump ball is used under high school and NCAA rules, with the arrow reset based on the results of the jump ball to start each overtime. The National Basketball Association, which uses a quarter-possession rule to start periods after the opening jump, also uses a jump ball.[5][6][7] The entire overtime period is played; there is no sudden-death provision. The only exception is in FIBA 33, in which the game ends by rule once either team has scored at least 33 points. All counts of personal fouls against players are carried over for the purpose of disqualifying players. If the score remains tied after an overtime period, an additional overtime period is played.
As many as six overtime periods have been necessary to determine a winner in a NBA game.[8]
In exhibition games (non-competitive play), it is upon the discretion of the coaches and/or organizers if an overtime is to be played, especially if it is a non-tournament game (a one-off event).
Starting in the 2009–10 season, ULEB, the organizer of the Euroleague and Eurocup, introduced a new rule for two-legged ties that eliminated overtime unless necessary to break a tie on aggregate. The rule was first used in the 2009–10 Eurocup quarterfinals (which consist of two-legged ties), although no game in that phase of the competition ended in a regulation draw.[9] ULEB extended this rule to all two-legged ties in its competitions, including the Euroleague, in 2010–11. One game in the qualifying rounds of that season (the only phase of the Euroleague that uses two-legged ties), specifically the second leg of the third qualifying round tie between Spirou Charleroi and ALBA Berlin, ended in a draw after regulation. No overtime was played in that game because Spirou had won the first leg. Although other competitions use two-legged ties at various stages, the ULEB competitions are the only ones known to use overtime only if the aggregate score after the second game is tied.
Ties are common in ice hockey due to the game's low-scoring nature. If the score is tied at the end of regulation play, certain leagues play overtime.
The 5-minute overtime period was introduced for regular season games beginning with the 1983–84 NHL season, but with teams at full strength on the ice.[13] Overtime in the regular season was reduced to four skaters a side starting in the 2000–2001 season.[13] The "shootout" was introduced for the 2005–06 NHL regular season.[13]
Baseball and softball are unique among the popular North American team sports in that they do not use a game clock. However, if the regulation number of innings are complete (normally nine in baseball and seven in softball) and the score is even, the game continues for sa many extra innings as are needed to determine a winner. Complete innings are played, so if a team scores in the top half of the inning, the other team has the chance to play the bottom half of the inning. The longest professional baseball game ever played, a 1981 minor league baseball game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings required 33 innings and over eight hours to complete. The Red Wings had scored in the top half of the 21st inning, but Pawtucket tied the game in the bottom half, extending the game.
Major League Baseball games normally only end in a tie if the match is called off due to weather conditions. In the early decades of baseball (up to the 1920s), a game could also be called off due to nightfall, but this ceased to be a problem once stadiums began installing lights in the 1930s. Two Major League Baseball All-Star Games have ended in a tie; the second 1961 game was called due to rain with the teams tied 1-1 after the ninth inning, and the 2002 game was called after the eleventh inning after both teams had exhausted their supply of pitchers.
The only exception to this is in Nippon Professional Baseball, where the game ends in a draw after 12 innings if the score is tied. Ties are allowed to stand in the regular season; postseason ties (which happen after 15 innings) must be replayed in their entirety.
Rugby league games in some competitions are decided using overtime systems if scores are level at full time (80 minutes). One overtime system is golden point, where any score (try, penalty goal, or field goal) by a team immediately wins the game. This entails a five minute period of golden point time, after which the teams switch ends and a second five minute period begins. Depending on the game's status, a scoreless overtime period ends the game as a draw, otherwise play continues until a winner is found.