In
American football and
Canadian football, the hash marks are two rows of lines near the middle of the field that are parallel to the side lines. These small lines ( wide by long) are used to mark the 1-yard sections between each of the 5-yard lines, which go from sideline to sideline. All plays start with the ball on or between the hash marks. That is, if the ball is downed in between a hash mark and the nearest sideline, it must be placed on that hash mark for the next play. Prior to the adoption of hash marks (which were first utilized at the
first NFL playoff game in ), all plays began where the ball was declared dead, including
extra point attempts. The hashmarks in that indoor 1932 playoff game were originally from the sideline, and that width was adopted by the NFL for the season. It was increased to from the sideline ( apart) in , from the sideline ( apart) in , and to the current from the sideline ( apart) in . In most forms of professional football in the U.S., including the
National Football League and most forms of
indoor football, the hash marks are in line with the
goal posts, both being 18 feet 6 inches apart in the NFL and between in indoor football.
High school football,
college football and
Canadian football have hash marks significantly wider than the goal posts. The college football standard, which was the previous standard in the NFL (–), is 40 feet apart, (20 yards from the sidelines) introduced in
1993. Previously, the college width was the same as the high school standard (with the exception of Texas, which currently uses the current college width), at one-third of the width of the field (). The Canadian standard for amateur play is in width, 24 yards from each sideline. The
Canadian Football League formerly used this spacing, but narrowed the hash mark spacing to in 2022. A Canadian football field width is , wider than in the American game. ==See also==