A "football field" is not a unit of measurement, so why does anyone ever use it as such?

[Pet68]

I ask because that's exactly what they do in this video (at the 0:17 mark). It's bizarre. Why not use metric units, which is what the whole world is familiar with anyway?

I have no idea how large a football field is, so that bit of information is totally useless to me.

[purplepoppy]

Is that an American football field or a European football pitch.

I think it dates back to WW2 when aircrew used things like sports pitches to judge the size of things on the ground. Most places have at least one sports field near by you can uses as a handy scale for comparison. It's still useful today on Google maps

[Anonymous]

I'd say it's about 2 or 3 Kropogs.

[Pet68]

That's very helpful, thank you. :)

[OneViewpoint]

Actually it is a unit of measure. A football field is exactly 100 yards. 300 feet. How is that any less valid than a 36" yardstick or a 12" ruler or a 25 foot tape measure?

[NathanDavis]

IT IS a unit of measurement... just not a formal one

[Pet68]

No. It's not.

[NathanDavis]

yes, it is... and so are hands, and stadia

[Pet68]

LOL :D
Sure, right, whatev.

[NathanDavis]

Kepler and Galilei did... so many others as well

Newton used yards... and football fields are measured in yards, everyone knows this

[Dargil]

Its a good reference. Like an Astronomical Unit.

[nicfire171]

It’s 100yards. Its a general reference to a large area that many Americans will understand

[Pet68]

But which no one else will. What's a yard?

[nicfire171]

It’s 3 feet which is American units

[seeyounexttuesday]

Cause a football field is a common reference of length