What are NFL policies on a lightning delay?

The NFL is a network TV drama series.

The NFL gets the majority of its wealth from TV networks. In return, TV networks have a heavy hand in how the NFL is run.

Anyone remember how the NFL used to open the season with Week 1 on Labor Day Weekend? The TV networks nixed that because too many folks north of the Ohio River took their final opportunity of summer to do things outside.

With less eyeballs, the networks make less money and, in turn, the NFL has less revenue.

When NFL strongman Roger Goodell floats a rumor about maybe having a Super Bowl held in Europe, Joe laughs. Network suits pay such an obscene amount to televise a Super Bowl, they want that thing on in primetime (for eyeballs, of course).

If the NFL put a Super Bowl in Europe, the game would have to be played in the middle of the night in Europe. That’s not going to happen.

The Bucs, in their galling loss to the hapless Browns, had roughly a two-hour, 15-minute lightning delay which began at the two-minute warning.

Tristan Wirfs sounded off after the game about not finishing the game with only two minutes left, calling the decision “ridiculous.” Joe is making no excuses for that tripe on Sunday from the Bucs but you cannot tell Joe the Browns didn’t get a massive break.

Browns defenders before the delay were seriously sucking air. With a two-hour break, the Browns got a chance to cool off in the air conditioning and hydrate.

Joe honestly thought Carson Schwesinger was going to keel over when he took a knee as Browns trainers tended to an injured player. Schwesinger was running on fumes and guts.

Up in the press box, reporters were constantly fed different intel, none by Bucs, Browns or game officials. The information came from “they.”

(For fans of the late great GOB, Chris Thomas, you know that was likely Chuck LaMar.)

Jayna Bardahl of The Athletic decided to dig into what the NFL policy is concerning delays. And really, there is no set policy about specifics of a delay. The NFL lets the networks, in Sunday’s case, CBS, determine how long delays are and when they can be called.

The NFL does not lay out a specific policy regarding how long weather delays must be and assesses each situation individually based on storm path and potential risk. However, broadcast networks typically have guidelines that state they won’t bring back uncovered camera operators until 30 minutes after the last lightning strike.

So in Florida, when there is a lightning strike, it is unknown how long the delay could last. The NFL could resume a game the next day.

So why does the NFL wait 30 minutes after the last lightning strike? Bardahl points out that networks don’t want their expensive equipment fried by a lightning bolt or have one of their employees zapped.

Warmups, per Bardahl, can be no longer than 15 minutes and are generally just 10 minutes.

So now you know some of the protocols for a lightning delay in the NFL and why some last so long.