American Football

American football is played on a rectangle that three rule sets agree on and then mark differently. The NFL, the NCAA and the NFHS all use a field 360 ft (120 yd), 109.73 m, from end line to end line and 160 ft (53 yd 1 ft), 48.77 m, from sideline to sideline, with 300 ft (100 yd) of field of play between the goal lines and a 30 ft (10 yd) end zone behind each one. The lines inside that rectangle, and the goal that stands on the end line, are where the codes separate.

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Dimensions and layouts

NFL Rule 1-1-1 states the outer rectangle directly; NCAA Rule 2-12-2 states it as goal lines 100 yards apart with the end line 10 yards behind each; NFHS Rule 1-1-2 gives the same 360 by 160 ft. Field-dimension lines are 4 in (10.2 cm) wide in all three, with the goal line painted 8 in in the NFL and either 4 or 8 in in college play.

The hash marks are what tell the three fields apart. The NFL sets its inbounds lines 70 ft 9 in (21.56 m) from each sideline, leaving 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m) between the two rows. The NCAA uses 60 ft (18.29 m), leaving 40 ft (12.19 m). The NFHS uses 53 ft 4 in (16.26 m), which divides the field of play longitudinally in thirds. Space outside the lines differs too: the NFL requires a white border at least 6 ft (1.83 m) wide, the NCAA states no border width but puts limit lines 12 ft (3.66 m) outside the sidelines, and the NFHS mandates no border at all. Every figure, with line widths, team-area setbacks and the derived total footprint, is in the football field dimensions, markings and layout guide.

Equipment

The goal is the one piece of equipment the field geometry depends on, and it sits on the end line rather than the goal line: the inside of the uprights and the crossbar stand in the same vertical plane as the inside edge of the end line. The top of the crossbar is 10 ft (3.05 m) above the ground in the NFL, the NCAA and the NFHS. Width splits the codes. NFL and NCAA uprights are 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m) apart inside to inside, the same span as the gap between the NFL hash rows. NFHS uprights are 23 ft 4 in (7.11 m) apart, though its rule permits play on a college or professional field with the narrower posts.

Upright height above the crossbar cannot be compared directly, because only one of the three publishes a fixed dimension. The NFL fixes its uprights at 35 ft (10.67 m) above the crossbar. The NCAA requires uprights at least 30 ft above the ground, a minimum rather than a height, and the NFHS requires at least 10 ft (3.05 m) above the crossbar.

Overhead plan

The same surface seen from straight above, drawn to scale. Nothing is foreshortened here, so every figure can be read off the drawing the way a tape measure would take it.

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Detail sheet

A rule book fixes more than the shape of the surface, and the rest of it is too small to draw at court scale: a mark a few centimetres long, a post standing a metre off the sideline, the clearance around the whole thing. Each one here has its own frame and its own scale.

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Official sources

Every figure here comes from a governing body’s own rulebook or field diagram, read on September 5, 2026. The guide cites these documents:

• National Football League — 2026 Official Playing Rules of the National Football League, Rule 1 and the field diagram on pp. iii-iv.
• National Collegiate Athletic Association — 2026 NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations, Rule 1, Rule 2-12 and Appendix D.
• National Federation of State High School Associations — Football Field Diagram, 11-player Football Field, 2026 edition.
• National Federation of State High School Associations — NFHS Football Rules Book, 2018 edition, Rule 1-1 and Rule 1-2.

The current NFHS rules book is sold rather than published free, so a few NFHS wordings were read in the 2018 edition; the guide says which ones. The NFHS diagram also notes that a state association may alter field dimensions by adoption. How each figure is checked, dated and marked official or derived is set out on the methodology page. If a number here looks wrong, report it through corrections.