Is football a more complex sport than baseball, basketball, and soccer?

[Plat2]

I'd say so, I'd rank the big four N.A sports in terms of complexity like this.

1. Football

2. Baseball

3. Hockey

4. Basketball

[Jotun_Fan]

I hope I don't explain this poorly.  I think you can look at it on different levels, and in some ways football is more complex and in some ways it's simpler.  When it comes to understanding the rules and how to play, it's way more complex than the other sports.  There may not be a single person who knows the rules well enough to be able to rule on every situation without the aid of the official rulebook.  For instance, I'm pretty sure that it's theoretically possible to score a single point, even the situation it would occur is virtually impossible (blocked extra point/2 point try returned, fumbled, somehow a safety scored.  I think.)  Even people who follow the sport more than casually will probably encounter a play once every few seasons where they say "wow I didn't realize that was a rule."

Then there's times that it's very simple.  For a lot of positions in football, it's not a very technical sport.  It's not uncommon for people who are good athletes to pick up the sport and become NFL caliber players within a few years.  This definitely couldn't happen in soccer, basketball I'm assuming it's nigh impossible, and I'd imagine baseball would be damn hard too, hockey too.  When it comes to strategy, I feel like understanding the basics of football strategy is kind of straightforward and simple, where as soccer it's more nuanced and I'd imagine basketball and hockey too.  When it comes to developing strategies and being better than other NFL coaches, I can't really speak to that but I'd imagine that is more complex than in the other sports.  You have so many more moving parts (a minimum of 24 starting positions,) injuries are much more common, seasons are shorter, and coaching decisions have much more of a direct impact on the results.

[diamondbull424]

Really struggling to see how Baseball is more complicated than basketball. Sure it’s arguable that it’s more “skilled” in execution (though I’d still disagree). 

I’ve played them all and it was far more difficult for me to understand football plays vs basketball plays vs baseball... where I just had to execute my role on the field. The rules also aren’t all that sophisticated. There’s a reason the baseball metaphor for “relations” is so popular... because it’s “simple”.

There also aren’t plays that are drawn up amongst multiple players that depend upon each individual unit acting in a specific manner in order to manipulate the opponents actions for one player to gain an advantageous position.

Sure from a hand eye coordination, reflexes, anticipation perspective it requires more skill. But in terms of the game itself?

There isn’t a back court violation, an over and back violation, there isn’t a shot clock as well as a game clock. There are no foul vs tech foul vs flagrant foul. There isn’t a travel. Palming. The list goes on and on.

The true complex nature about baseball involves the analytics component of it, but analytics in any sport are incredibly complicated to understand. Someone will have to present an argument to me as to how baseball is more complicated than basketball.

[Tetsujin]

I think baseball is the deepest, most complex sport. There's so many games within the game.

[11sanchez11]

all sports are pretty simple

[11sanchez11]

for the coaching side, sure

for the players (not including the qb), it's pretty easy

I would say for the viewer to understand what is happening, sure. For the players to go out and execute, I would say it is probably the easiest (from an understanding POV)

Edited May 23, 2020 by 11sanchez11

[Apparition]

Football is unique for its level of specialization. In most other sports, just about every player on the field needs to have the same basic set of skills, to some degree. In football, you're going to have at most 5 of 22 guys on the field at once who possess the same skill set, and the rest are all different. 

Edited May 23, 2020 by Starless

[Tetsujin]

1.Baseball

2.Football

 

 

3. Basketball

[lancerman]

Put it this way, I understood baseball, basketball, and hockey the first time I saw them. I probably didn’t watch football until I was at least 8-9 because I found it too complicated at first 

[JAF-N72EX]

These are the type of questions you can expect from people who have been inside the house for too long. 

[EvilenFroggen]

5 hours ago, warrenblue said:

Nah. As a non-american I'd say baseball is way more complex than football.

To me, to explain baseball and all its nuances to a person with zero knowledge to the sport is really hard. It's much easier to explain football. 

Proof

[Michael1976]

I’m going to say yes, but I’ll also say that if you ask the same question in a forum almost strictly catering to basketball fans you’ll probably get a different answer. The same for soccer, baseball and hockey.

[Malik]

Not to me. A lot of football's complexities are backed into the surface and the fact that there are a ton of rules. Basketball and soccer's complexity is undervalued because of the fluidity of the game that most people wouldn't really know unless they're hardcore fans or played at some collegiate level.

[candyman93]

If you understand what a pick and roll is, you understand 99% of basketball right now. The other 1% is the difference between what is worth 3 points vs 2 points.

[Elky]

 

Edited May 23, 2020 by Elky