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Prior to the adoption of hash marks (which were first utilized at the first NFL playoff game in 1932), all plays began where the ball was declared dead, including extra point attempts. The hashmarks in that indoor 1932 playoff game were originally 30 feet (9.1 m) from the sideline, and that width was adopted by the NFL for the 1933 season.
The hash marks (officially inbounds lines in the NFL rulebook) are two rows of short lines running the length of the field that mark the boundaries of where a scrimmage down may start. If the ball is downed outside the hash marks or run out of bounds, the next play begins at the hash mark closest to the spot where it is downed.
The hash marks are closer together at the American college level, where they are 20 yards (18.3 m) from the sideline, and in the NFL, where they are 23 yd 1 ft 9 in (21.6 m) from the sideline and the distance between them is the same as that between the goalposts. [7]
Two rows of short lines, known as inbounds lines or hash marks, run at 1-yard (91.4 cm) intervals perpendicular to the sidelines near the middle of the field. All plays start with the ball on or between the hash marks. Because of the arrangement of the lines, the field is occasionally referred to as a gridiron.
The Canadian Football League formerly used this spacing, but narrowed the hash mark spacing to 9 yards (8.2 m) in 2022. [12] The Canadian field is 195 feet (59 m) in width, 35 feet (11 m) wider than the American field. The NFL increased the height of the uprights above the crossbar to 20 feet (6.10 m) in 1966 and 30
The modern history of American football can be considered to have begun after the 1932 NFL Playoff Game, which was the first American football game to feature hash marks, the legalization of the forward pass anywhere behind the line of scrimmage, and the movement of the goal posts back to the goal line; it was also the first indoor game since 1902.
The biggest one that might be in jeopardy is Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson's single-season mark for rushing yards – set in 1984, when he churned out 2,105 in 16 games while with the Los Angeles ...
These hash marks are marked at one yard intervals between each yard line and parallel to them. They further assist the umpires to determine how far the ball has been advanced each down and the central pair also mark the widest point at which any play may be initiated; all plays start with the ball on or between the middle pair of hash marks.