Two recent articles from the Wall Street Journal:
The Time It Takes to Win It All
According to an operational study of National Football League teams prepared for The Wall Street Journal by Boston Consulting Group, the typical NFL season requires 514,000 hours of labor per team. That’s about eight times the effort it took to conceptualize, build and market Apple’s iPod, according to BCG, and enough time to build 25 America’s Cup yachts. If both Super Bowl teams dedicated themselves to construction rather than football, their members could have built the Empire State Building in seven seasons.
According to a Wall Street Journal study of four recent broadcasts, and similar estimates by researchers, the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL game is about 11 minutes.
18 games to get to the SuperBowl is 198 minutes of time the team is playing during the season with 514,000 hours of preparation. Think of all of the situations where you have to make a lot of preparation to be ready for an opportunity that occurs over a very short time.
I really like this quote in the article:
“We prepare so hard for one common goal,” says Colts offensive lineman Kyle DeVan, “I think it would be easy to compete against businesspeople.”
Kyle DeVan is the center for the Indianapolis Colts. Kyle starts the ball in motion. Kyle DeVan: From substitute teacher to protector of Peyton
I’d like to let Kyle know that there are many of us businesspeople who would give him a run for his money.
I am picking the Colts for the game.
