The highest governing body of the game is considering adding 5 minutes to half-time to become 20 minutes rather than the current 15, according to The Observer. This will –of course- give TV broadcasters 33% more time to air commercials at half-time, which is effectively a 33% increase of their revenue. It is customary in many games though that the 15 minutes are automatically increased to 18-20 as the players take their time back to the field. Some TV stations even keep airing their commercials beyond the 2nd half kick-off (and also before the 1st half), and you could be seeing both halves starting the 2nd or even 3rd minute on such stations. It was previously suggested that a team would be eligible to call for a "time-out" similar to the basketball/volleyball systems, a notion lead by American broadcasters that has been turned down. This time around it's FIFA whom are proposing the half-time extension, and they're likely to get their way to whatever they want to do.
