The Dimensions of a Football Field

Rule 1, Section 1 of the playing rules describes the field in two sentences. The game is played upon a rectangular field 360 feet in length and 160 feet in width. The lines at each end are the end lines, the lines on each side are the sidelines, and the goal lines are established in the field 10 yards from and parallel to each end line.

The area bounded by the goal lines and the sidelines is the field of play, and the surface of the entire field of play must be a League-approved shade of green. The areas bounded by the goal lines, end lines and sidelines are the end zones. The playing rules measure the goal line from the inside edge of the end line: the edge of the line toward the field of play, which is the actual goal line, is 30 feet from the inside edge of the end line. How big is that in area? The full field is 57,600 square feet, or 1.32 acres, and the page on how many acres a football field covers works through the calculation.

The field is rimmed by a solid white border a minimum of 6 feet wide along the end lines and sidelines. In the non-bench areas an additional broken limit line is placed 6 feet further outside this border. The broken line continues at an angle from each 25-yard line and passes behind the bench areas. All benches must be a minimum of 30 feet back from the sidelines.

Within each bench area, a yellow line 6 feet behind the solid white border marks a special area for coaches, behind which all players, except one player charting the game, must remain. If a club's solid white border is a minimum of 12 feet wide, the broken restraining line does not have to be added in the non-bench areas, but the yellow line within the bench areas must still be marked.

The rulebook allows one exception. In special circumstances, for example an artificial surface in a multi-purpose stadium, and subject to the prior approval of the League Office, a club may omit the 6-foot solid border during the preseason or later while football overlaps with another sport, and substitute a single 4-inch white line where the outer limit of the border would be.

The markings are set out in Rule 1, Section 2. At intervals of 5 yards, yard line markings parallel to the goal lines are marked in the field of play. They stop 8 inches short of the 6-foot solid border, they measure 4 inches wide, and they extend 4 inches beyond the white border along the sidelines. Each goal line is 8 inches wide.

The inbounds lines, also called hash marks, are on the field of play 70 feet 9 inches from, and parallel to, each sideline, and they intersect each yard line marking at right angles. In line with them there are hash marks at 1-yard intervals between each distance of 5 yards for the full length of the field. There are corresponding hash marks at 1-yard intervals along each sideline, beginning 8 inches from the border and measuring 2 feet in length.

The distance between the two inbounds lines follows from those figures. The field is 160 feet wide, and each line is 70 feet 9 inches from its sideline, so the gap between them is 160 minus 141 feet 6 inches, which is 18 feet 6 inches. The same figure, 18 feet 6 inches, is the length of the goal post crossbar, so the hash marks are as far apart as the goalposts.

Field numerals mark the yard lines in multiples of 10. The bottoms of the numbers are placed beginning 12 yards in from each sideline, and each numeral must be white and measure 2 yards in length. Two yards from the middle of each goal line and parallel to it, a line 1 yard long is marked in the field of play. All boundary lines, goal lines and line markings are continuous lines, and they must be white unless the Commissioner authorises an exception.

Rule 1, Section 2 requires weighted pylons at the four intersections of the goal lines and the sidelines, marked at the inside corners, and two pylons on each end line, four in all. That is eight pylons on the field.

Section 3 of the rule covers the goal. In the plane of each end line there is a centrally placed horizontal crossbar 18 feet 6 inches in length, the top face of which is 10 feet above the ground. The goal is the vertical plane extending indefinitely above the crossbar and between the lines indicated by the outer edges of the goal posts.

All goal posts are the single-standard type, offset from the end line, bright gold in color and padded in a manner prescribed by the League. The uprights extend 35 feet above the crossbar and are not less than 3 inches and not more than 4 inches in diameter. An orange-colored ribbon, 4 inches by 42 inches, is attached to the top of each post.

The ball is described in Rule 2 and is part of the equipment of the game. The rulebook says the ball must be a "Wilson," hand selected, bearing the signature of the Commissioner. It is an inflated urethane bladder, with a pressure the rulebook gives as 12½ to 13½ pounds, enclosed in a pebble grained leather case, natural tan in colour, and it has the form of a prolate spheroid.

Each team makes 12 primary balls, 12 backup balls and three specially marked kicking balls available for testing by the Referee no later than two hours and 15 minutes before the starting time of the game. The Referee is the sole judge of whether the balls offered for play comply with these specifications.

Each team must make 12 primary balls, 12 backup balls and three specially marked kicking balls available for the Referee to test no later than two hours and 15 minutes before the game. If a team's ball does not meet the specifications, or the supply runs out, the Referee takes a proper ball from the other team and, failing that, uses the best available ball.

All figures on this page come from Rule 1, "The Field", and Rule 2, "The Ball", of the official NFL playing rules, the 2026 edition. The conversions into yards and the distance between the inbounds lines are calculated from the rulebook figures. The field described is the NFL's. Fields used by college football, high school football and other leagues are governed by other rules, and this page does not cover them.

The figures are current as of October 2026 and will be checked again when a new edition of the rules is published. The scoring side of the game is covered on the page about the most common NFL scores, the players on the field on the page about the average height of an NFL player, and everything else is collected on the NFL hub.