What is an administrative timeout in football?

In American football, an administrative timeout (ATO) is a timeout called by the officials, not the coaches. They're used for situations requiring a brief pause in play for administrative reasons, such as:

• Reviewing a play: If there's a need to review a close call (though often a coach's timeout or replay is used for this) or a scoring situation needs clarification.
• Handling an injury: If a player is injured but the situation doesn't warrant a stoppage of the clock (perhaps a minor injury that needs a quick assessment).
• Addressing a penalty: To clarify the application of a penalty or to give the referee's crew time to arrange for the enforcement.
• Clock malfunction: A rare occurrence, but if the game clock malfunctions, an ATO might be called to allow it to be corrected.
• Communication between officials: If the officials need to confer among themselves about a call or ruling.

Key Differences from Coach's Timeouts:

• Number of Timeouts: Administrative timeouts don't count against the team's allotted timeouts. Teams have a limited number of coach-called timeouts per game.
• Timing: AT0s are typically shorter than coach's timeouts, as they're only for quick administrative matters.
• Who calls them: Officials call AT0s, while coach's timeouts are called by the team coaches.

Essentially, AT0s are a housekeeping mechanism that ensures smooth game flow while dealing with brief procedural issues that don't require a full stoppage of play initiated by a coach. They are fairly infrequent, used only when the need arises for a brief pause to resolve an administrative problem.