This question comes up all the time and we’re going to answer it here.  You need as much music to cover three or more full games without repeating a song.  But, exactly how much is that?  We’ll cover the various sports and situations and give you an idea of how much music you should have.  We’ll break it down for you, then also give you the total number of songs in each category you should have, based on the “Three-Game Rule”.

These do not count situational songs that are used and are considered for minimal use.  If you have more, that’s great.  Variety is the spice of life.

Walk-in –
This is the time from when the gates open to when the game starts.  Since most songs are 3 1/2-4 minutes long, that’s 15-17 songs per hour.  Though you may want to figure 20 per hour just to be safe.  Keep these songs as walk-in only songs as there is plenty of music that’s great to listen to, but not quite upbeat enough for game play.  Mix genres work for all sports.  60 songs/hour for walk-in.

Baseball –
For baseball games, multiply the number of innings by three, and that’s the number of songs you should have for your baseball games.  Why three?  Because you’ll also have pitching changes and may go extra innings.  For a seven inning game, that’s 21 songs, for a nine-inning game, 27 songs.

In baseball, you will also have situations where you can play additional music that’s specific to game play.  Situations include Walks, Rallies, Pitching Changes, Mound Visits, and Disputes/Arguments.  60-90 songs for baseball-game play.

Football –
Football, you have more situational music than anything else as typically the only recorded music will be during walk-in, or scripted during games.  Figure if you have to fill music at halftime and during quarter breaks, the most music you’d need would be a dozen songs or so.

Situational music would include Touchdowns, Point After Touchdowns (when most of your music would be played), Kickoffs (which can combine with PAT), First Downs, Big Plays and Defense.  Most teams don’t play music while on offense.  35-50 songs for football-game play.

Basketball –
Beyond warm-up and walk-in, basketball can be very music unfriendly, unless you get creative.  Timeouts are obvious, so take the total number of time outs a team can call in a game, multiply it by three (overtime is a possibility) and add the total number of media timeouts if you have any.  For high school, this could be 15 songs per game, but you also need to think about halftime.  Using the 3 1/2-minute standard of music, that’s about three songs for a 10-minute halftime and five for a 15-minute halftime.  Remember, some songs are longer or shorter than others so you may use more or fewer songs.

Warm-up music can be between three and six songs per game, however most teams maintain the same warm-up music game-after-game.

Situational music in basketball is tough because you’ve got to be quick during game play, unless you’re in the NBA and play music during play.  If you’re at a level that allows for music during play, your musical needs will grow to 12-20 per quarter.  Some categories can include Traveling and Fouls.  60-90 songs for basketball-game play (ranges for high school to college).

Ice Hockey –
You better get your playlists together.  Hockey games can have few stoppages, or a lot of stoppages.  We have found over the years, there’s roughly 50-55 stoppages per game, or a little more than one per minute for a youth game.  These can include goals, penalties, or just plain stoppages.  Some levels and games won’t have a lot of play stoppages, but others will have them frequently.

Warm-ups can be variant.  If it’s a simple 3-5 minute warm-up, you’ll use 1-2 songs.  If you go a full 15-minute warm-up, you could use 4-6 songs.  Warm-ups can be the same music each game.

Situational music in hockey includes Penalties (home and visitor and even subcategories), Goals (home and visitor), Period Breaks and Timeouts.  160-220 songs for hockey-game play

If you would like to see other sports features, please e-mail us and we’ll be glad to update this post.