Sudden death (sport)



In a sport or game, sudden death (or a sudden-death round) is a form of competition where play ends as soon as one competitor is ahead of the others, with that competitor becoming the winner. Sudden death is typically used as a tiebreaker when a contest is tied at the end of the normal playing time or the completion of the normal playing task. An alternative tiebreaker method is to play a reduced version of the original; for example, in association football 30 minutes of extra time (overtime) after 90 minutes of normal time, or in golf one playoff round (18 holes) after four standard rounds (72 holes). Sudden-death playoffs typically end more quickly than these reduced replays. Reducing the variability of the event's duration assists those scheduling television time and team travel. Fans may see sudden death as exciting and suspenseful, or they may view the format as insufficiently related to the sport played during regulation time.

Sudden death provides a victor for the contest without a specific amount of time being required. It may be called "next score wins" or similar, although in some games, the winner may result from penalization of the other competitor for a mistake. Sudden death may instead be called sudden victory to avoid the mention of death, particularly in sports with a high risk of physical injury. This variant became one of announcer Curt Gowdy's idiosyncrasies in 1971 when the AFC divisional championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins went into overtime.

North American professional sports using a sudden-death method of settling a tied game include the National Football League, the National Hockey League and, in a modified sense, the PGA Tour (golf). Baseball uses a unique method of tie-breaking that incorporates elements of sudden death. In some goal-scoring games sudden-death extra time may be given in which the first goal scored wins; in association football it is called the golden goal. In American sports, the winning score is a walk-off, as the players can immediately walk off the field.

Ice hockey
Sudden-death overtime has traditionally been used in playoff and championship games in hockey. It has been used in the National Hockey League throughout the league's history. The first NHL game with sudden-death overtime was game four of the 1919 Stanley Cup Finals. Currently, the NHL, American Hockey League, and ECHL also use the sudden-death system in their regular seasons, playing a five-minute overtime period when the score is tied at the end of regulation time.

In 2000, the AHL reduced the teams to four players each during the five-minute overtime. (But any two-man advantage is administered with five-on-three play rather than four-on-two.) The ECHL and NHL both changed to the four-on-four overtime format in 2001, with the International Olympic Committee following by no later than 2010.

If neither team scores during this period, the teams use a penalty-shot shootout, consisting of three players in the NHL or five players in the minor leagues (AHL, ECHL, UHL, Central), to determine the winner. In the NHL, if no team wins this shootout, a 1-by-1, sudden-death shootout ensues. No player may shoot twice until every non-goaltender on the bench has taken a shot.

During championship playoffs, however, all games are played to a conclusion resulting in a victory for one team and a loss for the other. These are true sudden-death games, which have gone on into as many as six additional full 20-minute periods with five players, instead of the five-minute period with four players.

International hockey uses a penalty-shot shootout for knockout rounds if neither team scores after one 20-minute, sudden-death overtime period. The shootout is decided round by round (in other words, if one team scores in the first round and the other does not, the game is over, unlike most professional leagues), and players can shoot as many times as the team desires. (There is no overtime in round-robin games.)

American football
The National Football League uses a modified sudden-death system in the regular season. Prior to 1974, an NFL regular-season game tied at the end of regulation time ended as a tie. Sudden-death overtime was used only in playoff games, with the 1958 NFL championship ending in overtime.

In 1974, however, the NFL adopted a 15-minute sudden-death overtime period. The game ends as a tie if neither team scores in overtime. When a team gets near the end zone, it typically tries to kick a field goal. An overtime game can also be won by scoring a touchdown. This usually happens on a play that begins far enough away from the end zone to make a field goal difficult, but it can also result from a team exercising solid ball control and simply never getting to a fourth-down situation. (The touchdown ends the game and no extra point is attempted.)  Only twice has an overtime game been won by a safety. In recent years, sportscasters have referred to such scoring plays as "walk-offs," as both teams can walk off the field after the play.

During championship playoffs, all games are played to a conclusion resulting in a victory for one team and a loss for the other. Any game tied after 60 minutes goes into an overtime period. Prior to the 2010 NFL season, all overtime games played during playoffs used the same format as the regular season: sudden death overtime. Starting with the 2010 NFL playoffs, if the team that wins the coin toss only scores a field goal during its first possession, the opposing team will get a possession; if the coin toss winning team scores a touchdown, the game ends. If the game remains tied after the opposing team's possession, then the game will go into sudden death. Overtime periods will be played until the tie is broken.

For information on games that have taken a long time under sudden death, see Overtime.

Arena football
In arena football, each team is allowed one overtime possession, after which the team with the most points is the winner. If the score is still tied, however, sudden death goes into effect. (A similar, sudden-death format, with a 10-minute limit, was used in the NFL Europa League.)

Prior to the 2006 season, if the score was tied at the end of regulation, the arena leagues used extra time; one additional 15-minute quarter of sudden death was played. If the score was still tied, the game would be declared a tie game. A game between the Dallas Desperados and the Nashville Kats ended in a 41-41 tie on April 8, 2005.

Golf
In individual match play, players level after the regulation 18 or 36 holes will play extra holes in sudden death. In team tournaments, players may gain half a point each for a tie rather than play sudden death; this is the case in the Ryder Cup, for example. In the Presidents Cup, there was provision for a single-player sudden death shootout if the entire competition ended in a tie. When this came to pass in 2003, the tiebreak was unfinished at dusk. There was no provision for an extra day's play, and both team captains agreed to declare the match tied and share the trophy.

Traditionally, professional stroke play golf tournaments ending in a tie were played off the next day with an eighteen-hole match. Modern considerations such as television coverage and the tight travel schedule of most leading golfers have led to this practice being almost entirely abandoned, and in all but the most important tournaments, the champion is determined by sudden death. All players tied after the completion of regulation play are taken to a predetermined hole, and then play it and others in order as needed. If more than two players are tied, each player who scores higher on a hole than the other competitors is immediately eliminated, and those still tied continue play until one remaining player has a lower score for a hole than any of the others remaining, and that player is declared the winner.

Of the four men's major championships, only The Masters uses a sudden-death playoff format. The U.S. Open still uses an 18-hole playoff at stroke play on the day after the main tournament, with sudden death if two (or more) contestants remain tied after 18 holes. The Open Championship uses a four-hole total-stroke playoff, while the PGA Championship uses a three-hole total-stroke playoff. In both cases, sudden death is used if a tie exists at the end of the scheduled playoff.

Baseball and softball
Baseball and softball are not true sudden-death sports, but they have one comparable situation.

Baseball and softball games cannot end until both teams have had an equal number of turns at bat, unless further play cannot affect the outcome. In the final scheduled inning (typically, the ninth), if the visitors complete their turn at bat and still trail the hosts, the game ends. If the visitors lead or the game is tied, the hosts take their "last ups" at bat. If the hosts should exceed the visitors' score, the game ends at the moment this occurs. (If the final scheduled inning ends in a tie, one or more extra innings are played with the same implications as the final scheduled inning.)

The ability to bat last is an advantage of being the home team. It is said that "visitors must play to win; hosts need only play to tie" because tying forces an extra inning.

A tied game in the bottom of the final scheduled inning puts pressure on the visitors. For example, with a runner on third base and fewer than two outs, the visitors cannot afford even to get certain types of out that would let the game-ending run score after the out.

A scoring play that ends the game is called a walk-off, because after the runner scores the winning run everyone can walk off the field. A walk-off home run is an exception to the rule stated above; the game does not end when the winning run scores, but continues until the batter and all runners score (provided they run the bases correctly).

Association football
Sudden death has a controversial history in football. Important matches were traditionally resolved by replaying the entire match, however in the era of television and tight travel schedules this is often impracticable. Replays are still used in some major competitions (like the FA Cup).

In many matches, if the score is tied after the full 90 minutes, a draw results; however, if one team must be eliminated, some form of tie-breaking must occur. Originally, two 15-minute halves of extra time were held and if the teams remained equal at the end of the halves, kicks from the penalty mark were held.

To try to decrease the chances of requiring kicks from the penalty mark, the IFAB, the world law making body of the sport, experimented with new rules. The golden goal rule transformed the overtime periods into sudden death until the periods were over, where shootouts would occur. As this became unpopular, the silver goal rule was instituted, causing the game to end if the scores were not equal after the first 15 minute period as well as the second. The silver goal has also fallen into disrepute so Euro 2004 was the last event to use it; after which the original tie-breaking methods were restored.

The main criticism of golden goal is the quickness of ending the game, and the pressure on coaches and players. Once a goal is scored, the game is over and the opponent cannot attempt to answer the goal within the remaining time. Therefore, teams would place more emphasis on not conceding a goal rather than scoring a goal, and many golden goal extra time periods remained scoreless.

Sudden death would have made many legendary matches of the past impossible. Many historical matches have been settled in flamboyant extra-time play, with multiple goals scored by each team, such as the unforgettable "Game of the Century" between Italy and West Germany in Mexico 1970, with Italy winning 4–3 after extra time. Following a 1–1 draw in regular time, the remaining five out of seven scores happened in the extra time. If sudden death had been in effect, the game would have ended on Gerd Müller's goal at 95', giving West Germany the victory instead of Italy.

In NCAA collegiate play in the United States, however, sudden death, adopted in 1999 for all championship play in addition to regular season play, remains. In 2005, the Division II Women's Championship game ended in sudden death as a goal was scored three minutes into the overtime to end the championship match. Sudden death is also prevalent in youth play, for the safety of players.

If the teams are still tied after the initial allocated number in a penalty shootout, the game goes to sudden-death penalties, where each team takes a further one penalty each, repeated until only one team scores, resulting in the winning of the game.

Rugby league
Drawn National Rugby League and State of Origin games are subject to sudden death extra time after 80 minutes of play, called the golden point. Golden point consists of two five-minute halves, with the teams swapping ends at the end of the first half.

Any score (try, penalty goal, or field goal) in golden point wins the game for the scoring team - no conversion is attempted if a try is the winning score.

In the NRL, the victor in golden point receives two competition points, the loser none. In the event that no further scoring occurs, the game is drawn, and each team receives one point each.

Rugby union
In the knockout stages of rugby competitions, most notably the Rugby World Cup, a match drawn after 80 minutes does not proceed immediately to sudden death conditions. 20 minutes of non-sudden death extra time are played first, if scores are level after 100 minutes then the rules call for 20 minutes of sudden-death extra time to be played. If the sudden-death extra time period results in no scoring a kicking competition is used to determine the winner.

However, no match in the history of the Rugby World Cup has ever gone past 100 minutes into a sudden-death extra time period.

Tennis and volleyball
In contrast with the usual sudden-death procedure of awarding the victory to the next side to score, tennis and volleyball require that the margin of victory be two. A volleyball game tied at the target score continues until one team's score exceeds the other's by two points.

The traditional requirement that a tennis set be won by two games sometimes resulted in five-set matches lasting six hours or longer, which is a major disruption to a television schedule. To shorten matches, sets tied at six games each can now be broken by a single tiebreaker game. This is awarded to the first player to score seven points. The winner must lead the loser by two points, so tiebreaker games can become lengthy in their own right.

Tiebreakers are not used in major tournaments in the final set, except at the US Open.

Fencing
An individual fencing bout lasts for five touches in a poule match, or 15 touches in a direct elimination (DE) match. In épée and foil, matches are also timed (three minutes for a poule match, and three periods of three minutes for a DE). If neither fencer has reached five or 15 points within the time limit, the leading fencer is deemed the winner. However, if the fencers are tied after the allotted time, one minute of extra time is added.

Before resuming the bout, one fencer is randomly awarded "priority". The first fencer to score a valid hit within extra time wins the match; if no valid hits are scored within the time, that fencer with priority is declared the victor.

In the normal course of a match, there is a de facto sudden death situation if both fencers are tied at four (or 14) touches each. The final hit is called "la belle". The fencers may salute each other before playing for the final point.

Computer gaming
Sudden death also occurs in computer gaming when both teams have the same score and a method of breaking a tie is needed. For example, in a Capture the Flag area for Quake III Arena, when neither team has gotten a score, or if no team leads, a sudden death match will decide who will be the victor. All the teams have to do is get the flag and deliver it to the base one time only in order to win automatically. In other games, players have some handicap in order to end the game faster; for example, in a Super Smash Bros. sudden death round, players fight beginning at 300% damage, which usually causes the game to end almost immediately after a blow is dealt. If not then bombs start to rain.

Board games
In board games such as chess where there is a time limit, "sudden death" refers to a requirement that all the remaining moves, rather than a fixed number of moves, be played within the remaining time allotted. This ensures an upper limit for how long games can last. Some games are played with an immediate sudden death time control, others have one or more regular time controls before the sudden death control.

Game shows
In most international versions of the game show Duel, if two contestants do not cover the correct answer to a regular question when the duel is in process, the duel goes to a sudden death question called a "Shootout". For this sudden death question, the contestants who are participating get 4 new chips each, and there are no accelerators or presses available. If only one contestant answers correctly, the contestant who has the answer wins. If both contestants get the answer correct, the contestant who covered fewer choices wins, but if both contestants do not cover the correct answer to the shootout question, they are both eliminated (that happens automatically if both contestants are wrong during the duel in international versions that do not have sudden death). In a situation in which both contestants covered the same amount of choices during sudden death, both contestants win the duel, and one of the contestants, picked at random, must leave the show. In some instances, if a winner cannot be determined on the question, multiple Shootouts may occur until a winner is determined. In that case, the tie-breakers that do not determine a winner may be edited out of the final broadcast.

In the game show BrainSurge, the last two players standing will match pictures. When someone gets one wrong, host Jeff Sutphen declares the game to be in "sudden death territory". At that point, the next person to make a valid match wins the game.

In The Weakest Link, if the final round of questions ends in a tie (usually after three or five questions), the players will go into a sudden death round. If a player successfully answers a question and his opponent does not in the round, they win the game. If both miss or are successful in a round, they go to another question. Again, tie-breakers that do not produce a winner may be edited out of the final broadcast.

On Wheel of Fortune, in the relatively rare event of a tie, the tied contestants square off in a Toss-Up round to determine which player goes on to the bonus round. Previously, in the event of a tie, the game was declared a draw and the bonus round was not played.

On Jeopardy!, games are allowed to end in ties, except in tournament play. In the event of a tie in a tournament round, a sudden-death "ring-in" clue is given.

Many other game shows feature a sudden-death playoff; usually, the next player to answer a question correctly wins. Often, the rules of sudden death provide that in the event a wrong answer is given, the opposing team wins, even though wrong answers may otherwise not be penalized. Occasionally, the format is a numeric question, with the player making the closer guess winning.

Professional wrestling
Sudden death in wrestling is most commonly seen in Real Canadian Wrestling tournament matches, in which a victor must be decided. This happens in the case of a double knockout or double countout. In the United States, Sudden Death rules occurs mainly in an Iron Man match when there is a tie after the time limit have expired.

An example that invoked sudden death occurred in the 2005 Royal Rumble. John Cena and Batista were left, and both men's feet touched the ground at the same time. A comparable draw leading to sudden death might happen if the shoulders of a wrestler applying a submission move are on the mat.

Judo
In the case of a tie in competition judo, the match proceeds to Golden Score, another form of Sudden Death. Sudden Death in competition Judo consists of a 5 minute long match, during which the first competitor to achieve a score is awarded the match. Penalties in Judo award points to the other competitor, making fair-play of absolute importance. If no victor is decided in Golden Score, the match is decided based on a Referee's Decision. A Referee's Decision is a vote amongst the Referee and both Judges of the match.

Mixed martial arts
In mixed martial arts competitions that consist of an even number of rounds, a type of sudden death is sometimes used in the event that each competitor wins an equal number of rounds. This is not a true sudden death that ends on the first point scored, since MMA competitions do not generally score individual points. Rather, it is a final round of combat, the winner of which is declared the winner of the match. This particular rule, known as "Sudden Victory", has been commonly seen in previous seasons of the reality television show The Ultimate Fighter when the competition has consisted of two rounds.