The NFL’s overtime system has long been the target of complaints about fairness, because the team that wins the coin flip seems to receive an unfair advantage — the chance to possess the ball and end the game without putting their defense on the field once — merely as a result of 50-50 chance.
The Coin Flip Is Totally Rigged
↵Except some UC Santa Cruz researchers have found that the coin flip isn’t even 50-50. The side of the coin facing up when tossed lands anywhere from 51 to 60 percent of the time. Which means that any pro football player in possession of this knowledge can give his team a possible three in five chance of winning an overtime coin toss.
↵I would propose some sort of overhaul, but instead I’ll just let the soccer fan in me briefly mention that ties may not be awesome, but they’re a lot better than deciding a game based on a ref’s coin flip procedure, especially when that procedure isn’t fair in the first place. Just sayin’.
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